Unraveling a hidden cause of UTIs — plus how to prevent them

If you've had a urinary tract infection, you're in good company. About 60% of women will develop one in their lifetime. UTIs lead to more than a million emergency room visits each year and more than $2 billion in medical costs.

Many of these infections are caused by common strains of E. coli bacteria that humans have lived with for millennia. But now researchers are investigating an unsettling source of some of the illness: the meat supply.

UTIs make urinating painful or difficult and can interfere with sex, sleep and exercise. Sometimes they can cause fever or chills. But since they can be treated with antibiotics, they've been considered more of a nuisance than a public health problem. Recently though, multi-drug resistance to some of the bacteria, including strains of E. coli, that cause UTIs has become an increasing worry.

But many of the of are harmless. So the authors of a new study set out to solve a mystery: Which strains cause infections, and where