Microbes such as bacteria colonize

Microbes such as bacteria colonize the surface of urinary catheters very quickly and often form biofilms in the drainage lumen of catheters [9e15]. The formation of asymptomatic biofilms in urinary catheters promotes development of symptomatic CAUTIs [8], and nearly all patients that undergo catheterization for longer than 28 days will suffer some form of infection [8]. In addition, CAUTIs also contribute to the alarming general increase in antibiotic resistance due to horizontal gene transfer between bacteria within biofilms, and the frequent use of antibiotics in their treatment [7,16e18]. Current commericially marketed strategies, such as killing bacteria or delaying bacterial attachment [10,19,20], to reduce infection induced by urinary catheters have been unsuccessful in the long-term prevention of biofilm formation which ultimately leads to CAUTIs [7,8]. Although recent research on techniques to prevent catheter infection such as bacterial interference [21] and