Meatal Colonization and Catheter-Associated Bacteriuria

DESPITE widespread use of aseptic "closed" methods for drainage of urine, urinary-tract infections associated with catheters continue to account for more than 30 per cent of all hospital-acquired infections.1 2 3 Bacteria may gain entry into the catheterized bladder by either of two routes. They may migrate from the collection bag or the catheter-drainage tube junction within the catheter lumen, 1 , 2 , 4 or they may ascend in the periurethral mucous sheath outside the catheter.5 With "open" drainage methods, retrograde intraluminal spread is probably the more important pathway.6 In this report, we provide evidence that, with closed drainage, migration of bacteria extraluminally in the periurethral . . .