Development of a Novel Antimicrobial Foley Catheter to Prevent CAUTIs

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections and lead to increased costs, suffering and mortality. A primary contributor to CAUTI is formation of bacterial biofilms on indwelling catheters. Biofilms are inherently resistant to most antibiotics, and once established serve as a bacterial reservoir propagating infection to other tissues. Elution of antimicrobials from catheter has been recognized as a potential means of preventing biofilm formation on catheters and reducing CAUTI. Silver and nitrofurazone-releasing catheters are currently clinical use. However, catheters releasing these antimicrobials have relatively short durations of activity, prevent biofilm development for several days and are largely ineffective against certain key pathogens. Consequently, there is an unmet need for antimicrobial catheters that prevent biofilm formation for extended periods. Therefore, we propose to develop a novel antimicr