Principles of Critical Care > Part V. Infectious Disorders > Chapter 56. Urinary Tract Infections Gerard J. Sheehan,  Busi Mooka

Key Points

"At the beginning of the 21st century, urinary tract infection (UTI) remains one of the commonest nosocomial infections, giving rise to prolonged hospitalization and additional cost. Eighty percent of nosocomial UTIs follow urinary catheterization, bacteremia arises in 1% to 3% of these, and the attributed mortality rate is then 13%.¹ Community-acquired pyelonephritis occasionally causes sepsis syndrome, especially when it arises in an obstructed urinary tract or when the host defense is compromised by poorly controlled diabetes. Urinary tract infection is thus an important initiating event for admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Because of the almost universal insertion of urinary catheters in critically ill patients, UTI is a common sequel of intensive care and ranks in the top four of ICU-acquired infections. Bacteriuria, acquired through urinary catheterization in the ICU, constitutes a reservoir of resistant pathogens, which occasionally gives rise to epidemic spread of infection within the hospital...."