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Urinary tract infection (UTI) - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

By: alien A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection in the organs and tubes that process and carry urine out of the body. UTIs limited to your bladder can be painful and annoying. But serious consequences can occur if the infection spreads to your kidneys. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect about 3 percent of children in the United States every year. Women are especially prone to UTIs for reasons that are not yet well understood. One woman in five develops a UTI during her lifetime. UTIs in men are not as common as in women but can be very serious when they do occur.

Causes

Most urinary tract infections are caused by bacteria. Any part of your urinary tract can become infected. The urinary tract includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. Bladder infections are the most common. Sexual intercourse is a common cause of urinary tract infections and the anatomy of women may make them more prone to infections since during sexual intercourse bacteria in the vaginal area could be massaged into the urethra by the motion of the penis. Cystitis may occur in women after sexual intercourse. But even girls and women who aren't sexually active are susceptible to lower urinary tract infections because the anus is so close to the female urethra. Most cases of cystitis are caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli), a species of bacteria commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract.

Symptoms

A urinary tract infection causes irritation of the lining of the bladder, urethra, ureters, and kidneys, just like the inside of the nose or the throat becomes irritated with a cold.There are a number of symptoms associated with UTIs. With bladder infections, symptoms may include:

* frequent urination
* burning or pain during urination
* the feeling of having to pee even though little or no urine actually comes out
* pain in the lower abdomen
* pain above the pubic bone (in women)
* a full feeling in the rectum (in men)
* bloody or foul-smelling urine
* mild fever
* a general feeling of shakiness and fatigue

Treatment

If you don't take medicine for a UTI, the UTI can hurt other parts of your body. Also, if you're pregnant and have signs of a UTI, see your doctor right away. A UTI could cause problems in your pregnancy, such as having your baby too early or getting high blood pressure.

Severely ill patients with kidney infections may be hospitalized until they can take fluids and needed drugs on their own. Kidney infections generally require several weeks of antibiotic treatment.

Surgery is sometimes needed to correct an abnormality of the urinary tract that increases the likelihood of an individual having an infection. Children with vesico-ureteric reflux, in which urine can pass backwards from the bladder to the ureter, may require preventative antibiotics for a period of time, but the condition usually improves without surgery as they grow older.