By Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times

There’s been a long-standing belief that urinary tract infections are largely caused by poor personal hygiene. New research, however, suggests that many cases may actually be caused by infections of E. coli bacteria from contaminated meat purchased in grocery stores.

UTIs are common — globally there are 400 million cases a year — and can occur when bacteria enter the urethra and infect the urinary tract, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though public health agencies including the CDC have made clear that E. coli can cause UTIs, the information they provide is often vague. Usually, when E. coli comes up on agency websites, it’s in the context of the strains that cause diarrhea.

A new study published Thursday in the s

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