The shocking cause of nearly 2 million UTIs per year
Contaminated meat sold in America's grocery stores may be behind an alarming surge in urinary tract infections, a study suggests.
Urinary tract infections, or UTIs, are among the most common infections in the US and affect about 8million people every year, with cases disproportionately among women and the elderly.
And numbers are on the rise, with research suggesting the number of people diagnosed with UTIs globally rose 60.4 percent between 1990 and 2019. Research suggest rates are rising at a similar rate in the US.
For the study, scientists in southern California collected swabs from more than 23,000 patients suffering from a UTI and 12,600 meat samples sold in local grocery stores.
Out of the 2,300 patients that were found to have a UTI caused by E.coli, the researchers revealed that 18 percent were infected with a strain that matched one found in meat from grocery stores, or nearly one in five.
Overall, turkey was found to be most likely to be contaminated with E.coli, followed by chicken, pork and beef.
Dr Lance Price, an environmental and occupational health expert at George Washington University who led the study, told Daily Mail that his research suggested that UTIs should also be considered a food safety issue, rather than just one of personal hygiene.
'Our study did not definitively prove that E. coli on meat was causing the infections,' he told this website, 'although it was certainly a possibility'.
Doctors are warning that meat bought in grocery stores could put you at risk of a urinary tract infection (UTI). (The above is a stock image)
Dr Price said it was possible that infections could occur via 'direct contact', or when bacteria from contaminated meat are transferred to a person's hands and then to their genitals while they are using the bathroom.
E.coli can also survive stomach acid, and Dr Price said it was possible bacteria from meat could linger in the gut and later spark an infection, including a UTI.
This is because it is possible for bacteria from feces to be transferred to the urinary tract while using the bathroom.
E.coli is typically found on the surface of raw meat and is destroyed when meats are cooked thoroughly. It cannot survive temperatures above 160 degrees Fahrenheit (71 degrees Celsius).
The bacteria are among the most common causes of foodborne illnesses in the US, sickening up to 350,000 people every year, hospitalizing 3,150 and leading to 66 deaths on average.
Warning signs of a UTI include frequent urination, a painful or burning sensation during urination, cloudy or foul-smelling urine and lower abdominal pain.
Doctors can typically clear the infections with a course of antibiotics.
Scientists found E.coli infections in 18 percent of patients with a UTI were linked to the meats (stock photo)
In the study, published in the journal mBio today, researchers collected data on UTI patients in eight Californian counties, covering Los Angeles and the surrounding area, and swabbed meats sold in grocery stores within the same area. Samples were collected between 2017 and 2021.
Most of the UTI patients were female, 88 percent, aged 50 years old on average, while 31 percent were from a white ethnic background and 37 percent were Hispanic.
An analysis was carried out to determine the strain of E.coli causing the UTI infections where the bacteria were detected, and infecting meat in grocery stores.
E.coli is the most common cause of UTIs, with the University of California, San Francisco saying online that it is behind 90 percent of cases. Several other species of bacteria can also cause a UTI, including the bacteria behind Staph throat, while the fungus Candida albicans can also trigger the infection.
In some cases in the study, researchers may not have been able to determine the bacteria that caused the infection because of a poor sample.
In the study, the researchers also found that people living in low-income areas were more likely to have a UTI caused by E.coli strains linked to contaminated meat, with about 21 percent of infections traced to these animal-origin bacteria.
People from low-income areas had a 60 percent higher risk of suffering from a foodborne UTI overall, the researchers said, compared to those in wealthier neighborhoods.
The scientists said this may be because workers handling meat in more deprived areas were less likely to follow food handling and hygiene practices than those in other areas.
Dr Price added that he had seen chickens pumped full of saline in stores in poorer areas, which would then leak the substance onto other foods, raising the risk of contamination of other products.
Overall, 82 percent of turkey samples contained E.coli, compared to chicken, 58 percent, pork, 54 percent, and beef, 47 percent.
Among the most risky was ground turkey, Dr Price said, as this was the food most likely to be handled when someone turned it into a patty, raising the risk that E.coli from the meat could be transferred to humans.
Animal meats may pick up E.coli during the preparation process because the bacteria naturally lives in their intestines and can contaminate cuts during the slaughter and processing stages.
The researchers were from Kaiser Permanente Southern California and George Washington University.
Dr Price added: 'UTIs have long been considered a personal health issue, but our findings suggest that they are also a food safety problem.
'This opens up new avenues for prevention, especially for vulnerable communities that bear a disproportionate burden.'
'This is why we should be investing more, not less, in research about the social determinants of health. Your risk of infection should not depend on your ZIP code.'
