There's a vaccine for chicken pox, measles, mumps. Now, doctors are working to create the first vaccine to prevent urinary tract infections.
Many people get them and they'll all tell you how painful it is.
"It's like a knife-twisting pain. You're unable to even do the dishes," said Sharon DeBarnardo, UTI patient.
Debanardo knows the pain that comes with infections that invade the kidney, bladder and urinary tract.
"I constantly went every 10 days having a bladder infection and urinary tract infection," she said.
Fifty-three percent of women and 14 percent of men will get a UTI. That adds up to 1.3 million emergency room visits and 250,000 hospitalizations each year. The only treatment is antibiotics.
"We're beginning to see increasing resistance to these antibiotics and that's of particular concern," said Dr. Harry Mobley, University of Michigan.
Dr. Mobley and his team are working on a vaccine to prevent the infections.
"A spray up the nose, a couple doses of this, would protect the bladder," said Mobley.
Mobley shows a photo of an infected urinary tract.
"Inside of a bladder looks like an inside-out soccer ball," he said.
An infection causes layers of cells to peel off.
"Bacteria get into this normally sterile site," Mobley said.
After five years of study in mice, researchers found three antigens that protect against bacteria. The next step: Try out the vaccine in humans.
"It would be fabulous," said Debanardo.
More tests are needed before there's relief for people like Debanardo, but she's hopeful a simple spray could one day solve her painful problem.
Dr. Mobley says the vaccine is still three to five years away from hitting the market.
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