Next-Generation urinary catheters for preventing catheter associated urinary tract infections: emphasis on antibiotic resistance
Indwelling urinary catheters are life-saving medical devices that are widely used in hospitals and nursing homes to relieve a patient from urinary retention and incontinence. However, prolonged use of these catheters in the urinary tract leads to a life-threatening and disturbingly common complication, called catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). CAUTIs are mainly caused by bacteria and affect nearly 10 million patients every year globally. This makes CAUTI responsible for 40% of all hospital associated infections and the costs for treating these infections exceed 100 million USD a year. Furthermore, the global threat of antibiotic resistance has made it extremely difficult to treat CAUTI via conventional antibiotics and has led to longer hospital stays for the patient and higher mortalities, especially among the ageing population. A strong need exists for new anti-infective catheters that can prevent CAUTIs by enabling a new function that prevents bacterial attachment onto the catheter surface. Such a device w ill offer several advantages such as, prevention of infections, reduced usage of prophylactic antibiotics, reduced risk of antibiotic resistant infections and faster recovery for the patient. A societal advantage of such an improved anti-infective catheter is the ability to control the rise of antibiotic resistant infections in the hospital and the community and reduce economic impact. Amferia AB has developed and patented a novel amphiphilic antibacterial material-a mesoporous elastomeric polymer, referred to as NANOELAST, that is able to target and kill bacteria rapidly upon contact. Of special interest is that the material has been proven very effective in killing numerous antibiotic resistant bacteria, prevent biofilm formation and without causing any harm to human cells. Amferia aims to evaluate the NANOELAST as the next generation urinary catheter for infection preventive care.