Urinary tract microbes (null)

Urinary tract microbes (the urinary microbiome) comprise bacteria, fungi, viruses, and occasionally archaea that inhabit the human urinary tract. These communities are crucial to urinary tract health, modulating immune function, protecting against pathogen colonization, and participating in metabolic activities[1][3][6][7]. Alterations in their composition (dysbiosis) are associated with urinary tract infections, recurrent infection, incontinence, urinary stone disease, and possibly systemic diseases[5][8]. The composition is highly variable between individuals and is influenced by host factors such as sex, urine pH, nutrient availability, and antibiotic use[1][3][6]. The community is not a therapeutic target in the conventional sense, but components and their interactions present indirect targets for non-antibiotic interventions such as probiotics, bacteriophage therapy, or FMT[2][4].

Other names

Urinary microbiomeurinary tract microbiotaurobiomeurinary resident microbes

Antibiotics: eradication or suppression of pathogenic microbes Probiotics: competitive inhibition, immune modulation, reduction of pathogen adhesion and biofilm formation Bacteriophages: targeted lysis of pathogenic bacteria Anti-adhesion molecules: block bacterial binding sites, prevent colonization