Abstract
Urinary tract infections are one of the most frequent clinical bacterial infections in adults. Escherichia coli is the organism that causes urinary tract infections in most patients.
Consensus guidelines have been published to assist clinicians with dia-gnosis and treatment of urinary tract infection; however, a single evidence-based approach to dia-gnosis of urinary tract infection does not exist. There is no gold-standard definition of urinary tract infection that clinicians agree upon.
In a subgroup of individuals with coexisting morbid conditions, complicated urinary tract infections can lead to upper tract infections or urosepsis. Although the initial treatment is antimicrobial therapy, use of different prophylactic regimens and alternative strategies are available to reduce exposure to antibio-tics.
Future studies improving the dia-gnostic accuracy of urinary tract infections are needed. This review will cover the prevalence, dia-gnosis and dia-gnostic challenges, management, and prevention of urinary tract infection and asymptomatic bacteriuria in adults.