Research

Bacterial Urinary Tract Infections

My research investigates the genomics behind Enterobacterales associated with urinary tract infections (UTIs), one of the most frequent infections observed in healthcare across most of the western world. The latest release of GBD 2019 data by the Global Health Data Exchange (made available by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) shows the age-sex-standardised incidence rate per 100,000 population of UTIs has risen from 6,976 (95% CI: 6,403 to 7,535) in 2010 to 7,413 (95% CI: 6,666 to 8,083) in 2019 across OECD member countries. Here we show mortality rates by country 1990 to 2016 which suggests a likely exacerbation of poor infection control, possibly leading to increasing mortality associated with UTIs.

Thanks to Antti Lipponen for making the Python code used to make the visualisation “Temperature circle” readily available.

I focus on uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), which are the leading cause of urinary and systemic infections. UPEC are bacteria that cause infection rather than commensal bacteria.