Asymptomatic bacteriuria in spinal cord patients and the elderly.

The prevalence and incidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic bacteriuria will remain high for many years to come. Antimicrobial agents are necessary to treat symptomatic UTI because no natural methods have been shown to be effective. Treatment of ABU is not appropriate. There is growing resistance to antibiotics, biocides, and antiseptics and, simultaneously, a decreasing rate of introduction of new antibacterial agents; thus the problem of resistance is magnified and potentially complicates the management of patients with SCI and elderly persons. New options of managing health and of preventing ABU and UTI and the complications arising from these diseases must be investigated vigorously and urgently. In particular, further study of the role of bacterial biofilms, the normal microflora, the influence of diet and hygiene, and the importance of the host immune response in the process of urinary tract colonization and infection is relevant and necessary.