Urinary Tract Infections in veterinary medicine

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What is ‘One Health’?

According to the World Health Organization, ‘One Health’ is an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment. It is particularly important to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The approach mobilizes multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together. This way, new and better ideas are developed that address root causes and create long-term, sustainable solutions.

One Health involves the public health, veterinary, public health and environmental sectors. The One Health approach is particularly relevant for food and water safety, nutrition, the control of zoonoses (diseases that can spread between animals and humans, such as flu, rabies and Rift Valley fever), pollution management, and combatting antimicrobial resistance (the emergence of microbes that are resistant to antibiotic therapy).

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UTI are a significant disease burden amongst domestic dogs and cats. And, as with their human owners, testing relies on slow, expensive or inaccurate methods.

Up to 14% of dogs are diagnosed with UTI over the course of their lifetime. UTI are more common in cats aged 10 or over, affecting up to 45% of older felines.

The underlying bacterial pathogens affecting companion animals are remarkably similar to those causing UTIs in humans. The ‘One Health’ approach acknowledges the link between humans and animal health and that companion animals are a driver of antibiotic resistance in humans through shared bacteria.

Antibiotic prescribing in animals is as great an issue as it is in humans. There is a great need to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions in cats and dogs in order to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The test panel for dogs and cats differs slightly for each species. This is because, although dogs and cats both get UTIs caused by Staphylococcus, the specific species is different.
As with human medicine, Lodestar UTI can be used to diagnose the presence of bacteria in patient urine at the point of care. Vets can use the'free-catch' method or cystocentesis to collect the urine. A Lodestar UTI test can then be run to determine if a bacterial infection is present or not.
Unlike humans, pets can't tell us when they feel unwell or describe their symptoms. UTI symptoms can be vague. If a UTI is suspected then the sooner a vet can rule in or rule out the presence of bacteria, the quicker the right course of treatment can be administered. Lodestar UTI gives a result in 35 minutes, whereas lab culture can take days to be sent away, then cultured and finally reported. Pets can pass antibiotic resistant bacteria to their owners, so the sooner a diagnosis is made the better it is for all of us.
Running a test

The Lodestar DX analyser and testing system is registered with the European Patent Office (European Patent Application no: 22732302.9) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (no.18/558,490).