If you suffer from chronic or reoccurring urinary tract infections (UTIs), are experience persistent pelvic pain, or your doctor suspects you may have bacterial vaginosis (BV), you need answers about what is causing your infection. Traditional laboratory cultures, which attempt grow the microbes from your urine sample in a lab, often fail to identify the bacteria or fungi that make up your infection. MicroGenDX combines two advanced technologies to test your urine sample instead. One is called “next-generation sequencing” (NGS), which uses a database of over 50,000 bacteria and fungi to identify all of the microbes in your urine sample with 99% accuracy over 3-5 days. The other is called qualitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), which can more quickly identify common microbes causing UTI or IC in just 24-48 hours. If you are suffering from bladder pain, pain while urinating, vaginal smell, pelvic pain, or any UTI or BV symptoms, then now may be the time to get a urine test that uses qPCR and NGS.

For an additional charge, you can add a urine test for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – also called sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) – to detect Gonorrhea, T. vaginalis (“trich”), Chlamydia, and Mycoplasma genitalium.

A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection in any part of your urinary system – your kidneys, bladder, ureters (the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder) or urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body).

UTIs are usually either “upper” or “lower,” depending on where the infection is located. The most common are lower UTIs, which infect the bladder and can cause it to become inflamed (these are referred to as “cystitis”).

In most cases, these bladder infections are caused by bacteria, though they can sometimes be caused by certain viruses or fungi (yeast).

Both women and men get bladder infections, but they are much more common among women. For example, among people between the ages of 20 and 50, bacterial UTIs are about 50 times more common among women than men. In people older than 50, there’s less of a difference between the sexes. Read more

IC is a chronic condition that can cause frequent urination, bladder pressure and pain, and sometimes pain in the pelvis. This pain can be anywhere from mild to severe. Your symptoms may vary over time, and flare up when you’re stressed, during or after sexual activity, after eating certain foods, or if you’ve been sitting for a long time.

Also called “bladder pain syndrome,” IC is estimated to affect between 3 million and 8 million women and between one million and four million men in the United States alone.

Scientists don’t know exactly what causes IC, but many factors probably contribute. That’s why testing is so important. IC symptoms are caused by bladder inflammation, but many of the symptoms are similar to a urinary tract infection (UTI). In many cases, IC is a misdiagnosis and the issue may be a chronic UTI. Doctors need to rule out a UTI to treat you appropriately for IC.

It’s also possible to get a UTI in addition to IC, which could make your symptoms worse. Treating the UTI with the appropriate antibiotic or antifungal can then help you feel better. Read More

BV is a vaginal infection that happens when the natural balance of bacteria in the vagina is upset, usually by inflammation. In BV, lactobacilli, the bacteria that keep the lining of the vagina healthy, decrease and anaerobic bacteria in the vagina increase.

Anaerobic bacteria are potentially harmful, but lactobacilli normally keep them in check. If the number of lactobacilli decrease, anaerobic bacteria can overgrow, creating an imbalance in the vagina that sets the stage for bacterial vaginosis.

BV is the most common vaginal condition in women ages 15-44, though women at any age can get this infection. Scientists don’t know what causes BV, but many think it is somehow linked to sexual activity. Although any woman can get BV, the condition is more common among women who have a sexually transmitted infection, have several sex partners, or use an intrauterine device. You cannot get BV from toilet seats, bedding, or swimming pools. Read More