Mucosal Immunity in the Urinary System

Escherichia coli, fimbriae, bacterial persistence and host response induction in the human urinary tract

“…Thus, in most cases, UTIs are cured before a specific immune response is activated. A specific immune response may occur later, in patients who develop severe symptomatic disease or chronic infection (Agace and Svanborg, 1995). UTIs thus provide one of the clearest examples of innate defence mechanisms maintaining the sterility of the mucosa.…”

“…Children who were treated with antibiotics to remove bacteriuria were shown to develop symptomatic infections significantly more often than those who were left untreated and remained as asymptomatic carriers (Hansson et al, 1989b;Lindberg et al, 1978). This led to the hypothesis that ABU protects the urinary tract, by competitive exclusion of more virulent bacterial strains (Agace and Svanborg, 1995). In a study by Hansson et al (1989a), 54 girls with ABU were left untreated and the bacterial strain was followed by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and serotyping.…”