I'm teaching a class on urinary tract infections later today (You're invited! Scroll down for details). When I started preparing, I knew I had taught on this subject just a few years ago, so I went searching for the slides.
What I thought was just a few years back turned out to be more than 10 years ago (!). Looking at my ancient slides was a reminder of how far things have come.
There's so much more we know about UTIs now, like:
- The bladder isn't sterile, and neither is urine. There's a urobiome!
- When UTIs recur, it's often because the bacteria stuck around, not because of a reinfection.
- Antibiotic resistance has become a bigger problem, we know a lot more about biofilms, and people are more interested in exploring non-antibiotic treatment options.
- The individual immune response matters quite a lot in terms of prevention and treatment.
And, my teaching is so different. The slides I thought were lovely back then hurt my eyes now. I present things through a different lens. I'm less certain about some things and more certain about others.
It's not easy to see our own development without little checkpoints like these, so I thought I'd share mine as a reminder that you've probably come a very long way in the last decade, too. Yay, us.
Take care,
Camille
