Can a refrigerator give you a UTI? Here's how

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Urinary tract infections (UTIs) usually occur when bacteria – most often, Escherichia coli (E. coli) enter the urinary tract through the urethra and multiply in the bladder.

As it would be astonishing to find out that your refrigerator might be behind recurrent UTIs, a U.S. study suggests exactly that.

The study found that E. coli, which have habitually been associated with contaminated or undercooked meat kept in refrigerators, can be the causes of such infections.

In this case, proper food handling and cooking method significantly reduce the risk and ensure the safety of food.

What is UTI?

A urinary tract infection, UTI, is a medical condition entailing infection in the urinary system’s parts – kidneys, bladder, ureters, and urethra. The infections normally found in the lower urinary tract, such as the bladder and urethra, although the condition can be more critical if it extends to the kidneys.

What causes UTIs?

The World Health Organization defines UTIs as being caused when these bacteria enter the urinary tract through the urethra and multiply in the bladder, which often causes infection, but other parts of the urinary system, such as the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra, can be affected by UTIs.

Contaminated meat and UTIs

A 2023 study found a shocking correlation between contaminated E. coli in the meat and the increasing cases of urinary tract infections in the U.S. The study concluded that E. coli from contaminated meat accounts for about 500,000 UTIs per year, thus ranking it as one of the top contributors to the increasing number of infections. Scarily, between 30% and 70% of all meat sold in stores contained E. coli, which put people at risk of infection through consuming contaminated food. The significance of food safety measures is hence still valid.

Growing threat of antibiotic resistance

If it is a urinary tract infection, then antibiotics are commonly given for treatment, but with a growing threat of resistance, these are rather more challenging to treat today than they were some years ago. However,the WHO reports that antimicrobial resistance has reached an alarming level such that even common bacteria like E. coli and Klebsiella pneumonia become resistant to essential antibiotics. This is particularly challenging for urinary tract infection cases, where about 20% of cases now demonstrate reduced susceptibility to routine treatments ampicillin and fluoroquinolones.

Prevention

A recent study in the journal One Health identified that E. coli bacteria from contaminated meat products can seep into the urinary tract and bring on infections. It throws light upon the proper handling and cooking of meat to avoid bacterial contamination. Since preventive measures are better than cure, one should be cautious about what one consumes to save oneself from possible diseases.