Infections in Urology comprise one of the most frequent entities in urological medicine and pose a significant thread to everyday urological practice.

In the last decade, the knowledge and understanding of infectious diseases has changed and increased dramatically. Novel insights into the pathology of urogenital infections warrant consideration of new settings and possible treatment options.

Preventing and treating bacterial urinary tract infections are the daily bread and butter for each urologist; therefore, a regular update on new developments is necessary. The urologist, however, is not only involved in diagnosis and treatment of bacterial urinary tract infections but is also confronted with diseases such as HIV, the concomitant increase in tuberculosis, andrological issues possibly related to infections or inflammation of the male genital tract and parasitic infections of the urinary tract.

This special issue “Infections in Urology” of the World Journal of Urology provides an update on hot topics on these new developments presented from international authors all around the world. The nine articles presented are dealing with the following issues:

  1. 1.

    male circumcision and the infection risk of HIV in high risk areas (Krieger, J.N.—Seattle, USA) [1].

  2. 2.

    epidemiology and diagnosis of male genital tuberculosis (Kulchavenya, E., Chul-Sung, K., Zhukova, I., Bulanova, O.—Novosibirsk, Russia; Gwangju, Korea) [2].

  3. 3.

    the correlation and influence of male genital infection and inflammation on male fertility (Rusz, A., Pilatz, A., Wagenlehner, F., Linn, T., Diemer, Th., Schuppe, H.C., Lohmeyer, J., Hossain, H., Weidner, W.—Giessen, Germany; Budapest, Hungary) [3].

  4. 4.

    urologic implications of genitourinary schistosomiasis (Khalaf, I.; Shokeir, A., Shalaby, M.—Cairo, Mansoura; Assuit, Egypt) [4].

  5. 5.

    risk factors of and preventative strategies for postoperative infections in urology (Grabe, M., Botto, H., Cek, M., Tenke, P., Wagenlehner, F., Naber, K.G., Bjerklund Johansen, T.—Malmö, Sweden; Suresnes Cedex, France; Edirne, Turkey; Budapest, Hungary; Giessen, Germany; Straubing, Germany; Aarhus, Denmark) [5].

  6. 6.

    pathology and preventative strategies of biofilm formation (Tenke, P., Koves, B., Nagy, K., Hultgren, S., Mendling, W., Wullt, B., Grabe, M., Wagenlehner, F., Bjerklund Johansen, T., Cek, M., Naber, K.G.—Budapest, Hungary; St. Louis, USA; Berlin, Germany; Malmö, Sweden; Giessen, Germany; Aarhus, Denmark; Edirne, Turkey; Straubing, Germany) [6].

  7. 7.

    prevention of health-care associated infections (Wagenlehner, F., Cek, M., Naber, K.G., Kiyota, H., Bjerklund-Johansen, T.E.—Giessen, Germany; Edirne, Turkey; Straubing, Germany, Tokyo, Japan; Aarhus, Denmark) [7].

  8. 8.

    treatment of urinary tract infections in children (Yang, S.S., Chiang, I-Ni., Lin, Chia-Da, Chang, Shang-Jen—Taipei, Hualien, Keelung, Taiwan) [8].

  9. 9.

    the relation between urinary tract infections and obstruction of the urinary tract (Heyns, C.F.—Tygerberg, South Africa) [9].

All articles represent systematic reviews on the topic, and a structured literature search was performed. The studies cited from the literature were rated if applicable, and the level of evidence and the strength of the recommendations were graded accordingly to the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) using the modifications of the International Consultation on Urological Diseases [10–12] as mentioned later (Tables 1, 2). Manuscripts were in part also published originally in: Naber KG, Schaeffer AJ, Heyns CF, Matsumoto T, Shoskes DA, Bjerklund Johansen TE (eds) Urogenital Infections. European Association of Urology—International Consultation on Urological Diseases, 1st edition 2010, Arnhem, The Netherlands, ISBN:978-90-79754-41-0 [12].

Table 1 Levels of evidence
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Table 2 Grades of recommendations
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Levels of evidence and grades of recommendations, according to [10–12] are given in Tables 1 and 2.

This special issue of the World Journal of Urology provides a large array of articles from authors all around the world. New therapeutic strategies in the broad field of infectious diseases of the urinary and male genital tract are provided. We are certain that this knowledge will assist the urologist at everyday clinical practice, but also in specific circumstances, in order to select better the best and appropriate treatment strategies for their patients.