RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Belfield, Katherine A1 Kalith, Sajitha A1 Aimar, Kelsey A1 Parkinson, Richard A1 Bayston, RogerYR 2019 T1 Micro-organisms attached to the lumens and balloons of indwelling urinary catheters and correlation with symptoms, antibiotic use and catheter specimen of urine results JF Journal of Medical Microbiology, VO 68 IS 4 SP 549 OP 554 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.000946 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1473-5644, AB To determine micro-organisms attached to removed urethral catheters and relate this to patient-specific information. Indwelling urethral catheters were collected from patients at a UK teaching hospital. The balloon and lumen were sonicated, and micro-organisms were enumerated. Catheter specimen urine results were retrospectively reviewed. Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis were the most common isolates from 61 catheters. 19.7% of patients received antibiotics and 25 % of those had a multi-drug-resistant (MDR) organism in the lumen. Only 2.04% of catheters from patients not receiving antibiotics had a MDR organism. All lumens were colonized irrespective of antibiotic use. Symptom presentation did not correlate with numbers of colonizing organisms or species. Despite heavy colonization, only 8/61 patients were symptomatic. Indwelling urinary catheters in place for ≥10 days were universally colonized and there was no correlation with symptom presentation. Symptom presentation remains the most important factor for defining catheter-associated urinary tract infection., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000946