UTI Vaccine Could Prevent Debilitating Women’s Infections

Professor Iain Duggin, director of the Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection at UTS, leads the project. He hopes the vaccine will help with chronic infections and with growing antimicrobial resistance.

The team will start in the Pacific, where access to proper healthcare can be limited and little is known about disease burden. “What we want to do is develop a vaccine that works really effectively for women and girls in the Pacific region,” Duggin said. “And then if that works, move it globally.”

The vaccine is in the pre-trial phase. It builds on mRNA vaccine research developed during the COVID pandemic. Duggin said that approach allows a more targeted and agile response as infections evolve.

A patient’s account

Jemimah Ashleigh, 41, has had UTIs since childhood. She said she has taken “over 1000 pills a year” to keep them under control.

Her infections bring pain, fever, chills and sometimes vomiting. “That means that for 24 hours you’re not leaving your bathroom, let alone your home,” she said.

In 2024 she developed an embedded UTI, where bacteria burrow into the bladder wall and evade standard antibiotics. It led to a kidney infection and hospitalization.

That year she also had her first dose of Uromune, an oral spray vaccine available in Australia by doctor’s prescription. It gave her eight months of relief. Small, early clinical trials suggest it may help some people with chronic UTIs.

Why diagnosis is hard

Malcolm Starkey, head of the University of Sydney’s Urinary Tract Health Research Program, said the vaccine shows real promise. He cautioned that UTIs can be complex to diagnose and treat.

He said research, funding and understanding have lagged because the infection mainly affects women.

“The diagnostics we use to detect bacteria rely on bacteria being in the urine,” Starkey said. But bacteria can hide inside the bladder wall, he explained, which can sometimes produce a negative result even when a patient is infected.