Originally Posted By: Arney
Originally Posted By: nursemike
Are the scientists arguing that these are normal bladder flora, in the sense that the colon has lots of symbiotic bacteria present? Are they saying that subclinical bacterial infection is widespread?

Well, they're saying both. The popular idea was that in healthy people, urine (and by association, the bladder) was devoid of bacteria because studies (or who knows, maybe just one study) were not able to culture anything. But they tried culturing urine in various ways and found multitudes of bacteria in healthy urine.

They're also saying that after they were able to successfully culture bacteria from urine, some strains seem more common in people with certain bladder conditions, raising the possibility that there is connection with the condition, such as "overactive bladder". If H. pylori bacteria can cause ulcers, it's not a stretch to believe that certain bladder problems can also have a bacterial cause.


IIRC, all the urine that goes into the bladder is filtered at the molecular level by the kidney; absent kidney infection, it ought to be bacteria-free. The bladder is emptied, mostly, on a regular basis, though many folks have some residual urine after voiding, and some have a lot. Bacteria can get into the bladder moving up the urethra, hence bladder infections, honeymoon cystitis, and the like. So, some bacteria are moving upstream, setting up housekeeping in the residual urine, sometimes irritating the bladder enough to cause spasms, sometimes not causing any symptoms at all. And these bacteria are stealthy enough to escape detection in routine microscopic urinalysis and routine urine culture. Interesting!
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