Microbiome in Female Bladder has a Protective Function: Study
Contrary to popular belief, urine is not sterile, even in asymptomatic individuals. For over six decades now, the standard urine culture protocol has represented the primary tool for detecting bacteria in clinical microbiology laboratories.
Now, in a landmark study, scientists have discovered that the female bladder is home to a community of bacteria – similar to the gut microbiome – even in the absence of infection.
“The female bladder has long been considered sterile except in women with urinary tract infections,” Dr Samuel Forster, joint-first author and research group head at Hudson Institute of Medical Research, says.
“Now, medical genomics is superseding over 100 years of medical dogma by showing bacteria associated with health in the female reproductive tract are also able to colonise the bladder without causing clinical infection.”
In a first, the research team involving microbiologists and genomics experts from the Wellcome Sanger Institute (Cambridge, UK), Loyola University Chicago (USA) and Hudson Institute of Medical Research (Melbourne, Australia), isolated and genome-sequenced 149 stra
ins of bacteria found in urine samples from 77 healthy and symptomatic pre-menopausal women.They then grew these strains of microbes in the laboratory to create a ‘living library’ of bacteria outside of the human body.
Prior to this, standard pathology tests have been used to detect some pathogens in the female bladder, but now, using genomics, the team has shown healthy and disease-causing bacteria could move freely between the bladder and female reproductive tract – even in healthy women.
“This research completely redefines the way we think about bacteria in the bladder and female reproductive tract. It has the potential to fundamentally change the way we treat urinary tract infections and diseases,” Dr Forster says.
“This knowledge also raises the question – if antibiotics are used to kill the ‘bad’ bacteria in patients with urinary tract infections, could this also upset the balance of healthy bacteria that have a protective effect – much like in the gut?
“More research is needed to examine whether bacteria associated with health or disease in the female reproductive tract have the same positive or negative effect in the bladder, and vice versa.”
