Pitt Pediatrics congratulates Catherine Forster, MD, MS, FAAP, for recently being awarded funding from the Department of Defense for her research project titled “Intravesical Gentamicin Coupled with Lactobacillus rhamnosus for urinary health.” Forster is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Paul C. Gaffney Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, and a scholar in our Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common outpatient infection across the world, but can often be incorrectly diagnosed, leading to unnecessary overmedication in patients. This difficulty in accurate diagnosis and overmedication can lead to unnecessary healthcare costs for patients as well as antimicrobial resistance. Long-standing misconceptions about the sterility of urine and insufficient sensitivity of diagnostic procedures continue to exacerbate this problem.
Forster’s primary research approaches this issue with a focus on host-pathogen interaction in the urinary tract and a specialization in understanding the difference between a true UTI as opposed to benign bacterial colonization of the urinary tract in children with complex genitourinary systems. The newly funded project, which is expected to to take three years to complete, aims to advance research in bladder-targeted treatment of UTIs and self-management of UTIs with instilled gentamicin and Lactobacillus, as well as reduce the recurrence of UTIs in patients.
The research also aims to specifically target people with spinal cord injury/disease (SCI/D) and neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD), a population with which UTIs are the most common infection, secondary condition, cause for emergency room visits, and infectious cause of hospitalization. For these patients, this work could potentially increase accessibility to better treat UTIs, prevent their recurrence, and ultimately reduce antimicrobial resistance due to overuse of antimicrobials in treatment.
Growing on Forster’s prior work, this effort will advance research of intravesical instillation of a live biotherapeutic product (LBP) for bothersome urinary symptoms. Goals will include investigating the timing and dosing of this LBP, as well as observing the experiences of patients following the utilization of this method.
For more updates on Forster’s work and research, and future grants and publications from our Department, follow Pitt Pediatrics on Twitter and Instagram.