Escherichia coli

. Most are harmless to humans, but several can cause illness. Enterotoxigenic

E. coli

is what causes traveler’s diarrhea. Shiga toxin-producing

E. coli

produces more severe gastrointestinal distress, like bloody diarrhea, and can lead to a hospital stay or even death. Different government agencies track this type of

E. coli

.

To clarify: There are many different types of

But uropathogenic E. coli, a leading cause of UTIs, is not tracked by government agencies. This, despite the fact that if UTIs go untreated, or the strain of E. coli bacteria is drug-resistant, it can lead to far more serious infections.

This means that there is less information about uropathogenic E. coli than, say, Salmonella. It limits the quality and quantity of research that scientists can do on the subject. It makes it more difficult to monitor and respond to outbreaks. It also means that there aren’t strict regulatory limits on using antibiotics that treat UTIs in animal husbandry, which could lead to more drug-resistant uropathogenic E. coli strains.

Meanwhile, drug-resistant UTIs are on the rise. The New York Times recently reported that the New York City Department of Health has found a third of UTIs caused by E. coli are resistant to Bactrim, and at least a fifth of infections are resistant to five other common treatments. When one considers that, in the United States alone, there are more than 7 million doctor’s visits for UTIs every year, and that E. coli is frequently the cause, those percentages are staggering.

“We have been concerned that UTIs have not received the attention that they deserve,” Food and Water Watch lobbyist Tony Corbo wrote in an email to The New Food Economy. “We have raised the issue with the staff at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, but there does not seem the urgency for that agency to take action even though it regulates the safety of meat and poultry.”