Yeast Infections In Men Causes And Diagnosis
Yeast infections are often considered to be a female health issue as women are more susceptible to getting them. Although they are less common in men, yeast infections can affect anyone regardless of gender or age. They are caused by a fungus called Candida that thrives in warm and moist conditions.
How Do You Treat A Male Yeast Infection
Even untreated, it often goes away by itself, but it can sometimes spread to the scrotum, inner thighs and buttocks. Luckily, treatment is simple: Over-the-counter or prescription antifungal creams used twice a day for between one to three weeks will clear the infection. An oral antifungal drug such as fluconazole is also almost always effective. Although various herbal remedies have been touted for women with yeast infections, theres no data on their efficacy in men, and traditional treatment is so safe and simple that theres no compelling reason to explore these possibilities.
Because the infection is transmitted to men by sexual intercourse, both partners should be treated so you dont keep re-infecting each other. However, if only the woman has evidence of a yeast infection, the risk of transmission is so low that theres no need to treat the male partner. Theres no compelling reason to limit sexual intercourse during treatment, but you should use a condom.
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Causes Of Urinary Tract Infection In Men
Even through the male urinary system is more protected from infection than its female counterpart, it can still get infected due to certain factors.
1. Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Trichomonas vaginalis, anaerobes, Herpes simplex virus , and adenovirus are sexually transmitted microbes that cause urethritis in men.2122 Sexually active men, who have developed UTI, should abstain from intercourse until their UTI is treated completely.
2. Prostatitis
The most common cause of UTI in men is prostatitis, an infection of the prostate gland that causes it to enlarge in size.23 An enlarged prostate prevents the bladder from emptying completely, due to which any bacteria present in the residual urine in the bladder do not get flushed out like they normally would.24 Instead, they multiply and cause infection.
Men Of What Age Are Most Affected By UTIs?
The incidence of UTIs is high is sexually active men aged 18-24. It decreases during middle age and increases again in older men above the age of 65 years.25
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Truth: Type Of Uti Test Matters Especially For Frequent Infections
For patients with recurrent urinary tract infection , your doctor likely will culture your urine to determine the specific type of bacteria causing your infection. A culture is more informative than a dipstick urine test that reveals only whether an infection is likely to be present.
The right test is particularly important for someone who experiences recurring infections. This is to be sure that your symptoms truly are due to infection and that the antibiotics usually used for these infections are appropriate for you, said Dr. Dielubanza.
Myth: Hygiene Habits And Clothing Fit Contribute To Utis
You may have heard that certain hygiene practices are risk factors for UTIs, particularly for women. But UTIs are not caused by how you wipe in the bathroom, by tampon use or by failing to empty your bladder after sexual intercourse. Theyre also not caused by wearing tight clothes.
A lot of women express concern about these, said Dr. Dielubanza. But studies have shown there is no association between these practices and UTIs.
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How To Feel Better
If your healthcare professional prescribes you antibiotics:
- Take antibiotics exactly as your healthcare professional tells you.
- Do not share your antibiotics with others.
- Do not save antibiotics for later. Talk to your healthcare professional about safely discarding leftover antibiotics.
Drink plenty of water or other fluids. Your healthcare professional might also recommend medicine to help lessen the pain or discomfort. Talk with your healthcare professional if you have any questions about your antibiotics.
How Long Will The Effects Last
For most UTIs, the symptoms go away within 24 hours after you begin treatment. Take all of the medicine your healthcare provider prescribes, even after the symptoms go away. If you stop taking your medicine before the scheduled end of treatment, the infection may come back.
Without treatment, the infection can last a long time. If it is not treated, the infection can permanently damage the bladder and kidneys, or it may spread to the blood. If the infection spreads to the blood, it can be fatal.
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Sex With A Uti May Worsen Symptoms
It is possible to have vaginal sex with a UTI. But you may not want to, depending on the severity of your symptoms.
“I don’t think one is concerned about safety. It’s more about comfort,” said Patricia A. Wallace, MD, a gynecologist and urologist at Providence Mission Hospital in Orange County, Calif.
“If you have an active bladder infection, you’re not very comfortable most of the time in that area, so avoiding intercourse is probably the best bet until things quiet down and you’re feeling better,” added Dr. Wallace. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a bladder infection is one of the most common types of UTIs.
Sometimes, sex may even aggravate your symptoms, added Felice Gersh, MD, OB-GYN, founder and director of the Integrative Medical Group of Irvine in Irvine, Calif., and author of PCOS SOS Fertility Fast Track.
“Heavy thrusting or sexual intercourse are more likely to create more irritation,” Dr. Gersh told Health.
Penetration can put pressure on the parts of your body that bacteria infects, namely your urethra or bladder. That can be a recipe for increased pain and a potentially longer recovery period than usual. Those risk factors are part of why some healthcare providers often recommend waiting a week or so after starting treatment before you have sex.
How Does It Occur
Normally the urinary tract does not have any bacteria or other organisms in it. Bacteria that cause UTI often spread from the rectum to the urethra and then to the bladder or kidneys. Sometimes bacteria spread from another part of the body through the bloodstream to the urinary tract. Urinary tract infection is less common in men than in women because the male urethra is long, making it difficult for bacteria to spread to the bladder.
Urinary tract infection may be caused by a sexually transmitted disease. Sometimes a stone in the urinary tract blocks the flow of urine and causes an infection. In older men, an enlarged prostate can cause a urinary tract infection by keeping urine from draining out of the bladder completely. Infection might also be caused by the use of a catheter used to drain the bladder or by urethral stricture, which is a narrowing of the urethra by scar tissue from previous infections or surgical procedures.
You may be more likely to have a UTI if you have diabetes or another medical problem that affects the immune system.
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Yeast Infections In Men: Signs And Symptoms
- Thick, smelly discharge from the foreskin
- Pain in pulling back the foreskin
- Itchy rash around the genital area
- Pain when urinating and during sex
Note: male candidiasis is not the same as jock itch, which is another type of fungal infection that causes irritation in the skin around the genitals. Jock itch is caused by a different type of fungi altogether .
Could You Pass A Uti To Your Partner
First, lets go over the basics. Urinary tract infections happen in the urinary tract: urethra and bladder. However, mechanism of the pathogen transmission often includes sexual organs.
So if we break down the problem we have a three-part question:
1. Can pathogenic bacteria from an infected urinary tract travel to someone elses urinary tract during sex?
This is quite unlikely, regardless of which partner has a UTI.
2. Can pathogenic bacteria from an infected urinary tract travel to your partners sexual organ during sex?
Could happen, regardless of which partner has a UTI, during unprotected sex.
3. Can pathogenic bacteria from any body part of any partner travel to any other partners urethra?
Much more likely regardless of whether you have or not have an acute UTI. Thats just how UTI happens!
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Women Of What Age Are Most Affected By Utis
Women of all ages should exercise caution when it comes to UTIs. Even girls as young as 3 years not safe from it and adolescent girls have a high risk of UTIs if they are sexually active.1819
Once you develop a UTI, treating it does not mean that you can sit back and relax because there are chances of it recurring. About 1 in 4 women develops a recurrence of urinary tract infections.20
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How Is It Diagnosed
Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms and medical history. You may have lab tests of your urine and discharge from the urethra and prostate gland.
For serious or repeated infections, you may need:
- An intravenous pyelogram . An IVP is a special type of X-ray of the kidneys, ureters, and bladder.
- An ultrasound scan to look at the urinary tract.
- A cystoscopy. This is an exam of the inside of the urethra and bladder with a small lighted instrument. It is usually done by a specialist called a urologist.
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Causes Of Urinary Tract Infections
Urinary tract infections are usually caused by bacteria from poo entering the urinary tract.
The bacteria enter through the tube that carries pee out of the body .
Women have a shorter urethra than men. This means bacteria are more likely to reach the bladder or kidneys and cause an infection.
Things that increase the risk of bacteria getting into the bladder include:
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What Is Candida Overgrowth
Intestinal Candida overgrowth may happen if the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut is disrupted, allowing for pathogens and fungal cells to develop more freely. This imbalance of gut microorganisms is usually referred to as dysbiosis. Dysbiosis can result after a course of antibiotics, which tend to kill off much of the good bacteria needed to keep the bad under control. Stress, medications, diet, pollution, and certain illnesses can also cause dysbiosis. Men are affected by these factors as much as women.
An intestinal Candida overgrowth is often seen at the same time as external yeast infections in men or women. By treating the intestinal overgrowth, and eliminating the factors that caused it in the first place, you can often get rid of both your gut problems and your external yeast infection.
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What About Recurrent Yeast Infections
A recurrent yeast infection occurs when a woman has four or more infections in one year that are not related to antibiotic use. Recurrent yeast infections may be related to an underlying medical condition such as impaired immunity and may require more aggressive treatment. This can include longer courses of topical treatments, oral medications, or a combination of the two.
Myths And Truths About Urinary Tract Infections
Urinary tract infections are one of the most common infections in women.
A UTI can occur anywhere along the urinary tract, including in the kidneys and along the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder. More commonly, though, infections involve the lower urinary tract: the bladder and the urethra tube that empties urine .
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How Do Men Develop Yeast Infections
A yeast infection can develop when something throws that balance off such as taking antibiotics for a bacterial infection. Yeast infections are most likely to happen in warm, moist places in the body including the mouth and genital area.
Yeast infections are sometimes transmitted during unprotected vaginal intercourse.
Men who are obese, have diabetes, or have compromised immune systems are more prone to getting yeast infections.
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How Do Utis Affect Pregnancy
Changes in hormone levels during pregnancy raise your risk for UTIs. UTIs during pregnancy are more likely to spread to the kidneys.
If you’re pregnant and have symptoms of a UTI, see your doctor or nurse right away. Your doctor will give you an antibiotic that is safe to take during pregnancy.
If left untreated, UTIs could lead to kidney infections and problems during pregnancy, including:
- Premature birth
- Low birth weight
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How Are Urinary Tract Infections Diagnosed
Your doctor will use the following tests to diagnose a urinary tract infection:
- Urinalysis: This test will examine the urine for red blood cells, white blood cells and bacteria. The number of white and red blood cells found in your urine can actually indicate an infection.
- Urine culture: A urine culture is used to determine the type of bacteria in your urine. This is an important test because it helps determine the appropriate treatment.
If your infection does not respond to treatment or if you keep getting infections over and over again, your doctor may use the following tests to examine your urinary tract for disease or injury:
- Ultrasound: In this test, sound waves create an image of the internal organs. This test is done on top of your skin, is painless and doesnt typically need any preparation.
- Cystoscopy: This test uses a special instrument fitted with a lens and a light source to see inside the bladder from the urethra.
- CT scan: Another imaging test, a CT scan is a type of X-ray that takes cross sections of the body . This test is much more precise than typical X-rays.
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Causes And Risk Factors Of Male Yeast Infections
According to Robert Mordkin, MD, CMO of LetsGetChecked and chief of urology at Virginia Hospital Center, other factors in addition to a moist environment that can lead to penile yeast infections include:
- Poor hygiene can provide a breeding ground for candida to develop into a penile yeast infection. Thoroughly cleaning your genitals under every skin fold, especially if you are uncircumcised, can decrease your chances of an infection occurring.
- Irritated or damaged skin from a cut or friction from clothing.
- Unprotected intercourse with a partner who has a yeast infection. When a man has sex with someone who has a vaginal yeast infection, the condition can spread to their penile area. Until a yeast infection is treated, avoiding sex especially without a condom can ensure that the condition does not spread to others. While condoms may help to prevent the spread, it is not a guaranteed method.
Certain pre-existing conditions can also increase your risk of a penile yeast infection, says Giuseppe Aragona, MD, a general practitioner and family doctor at Prescription Doctor, an online healthcare service. According to Aragona and Mordkin, risk factors include:
- Having a weakened immune system
- Having diabetes a condition Morkin calls the single greatest risk factor for penile yeast infections
- Taking a long course of antibiotics, as the medicine can potentially kill off beneficial bacteria that work to prevent yeast infections
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Im Pregnant How Will A Uti Affect My Baby
If you have a UTI and it isnt treated, it may lead to a kidney infection. Kidney infections may cause early labor. Fortunately, asymptomatic bacteriuria and bladder infections are usually found and treated before the kidneys become infected. If your doctor treats a urinary tract infection early and properly, it wont hurt your baby.
Understanding Male Yeast Infections
The Candida yeast is responsible for at least 35% of all cases of balanitis. Other infectious sources include the Herpes virus and human papillomavirus, as well as a specific sexually transmitted bacteria called Mycoplasma genitalium.
However, the Candida yeast is not fully understood. Around 37% of men with Candida dont experience symptoms of a yeast infection. And according to the same study, roughly 27% of those men develop balanitis.
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Eating Diet & Nutrition
Experts dont think eating, diet, and nutrition play a role in preventing or treating bladder infections. If you have any type of UTI, talk with a health care professional about how much to drink each day to help prevent or relieve your infection.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and other components of the National Institutes of Health conduct and support research into many diseases and conditions.
Can You Have Sex If You Have A Uti
In general, it is recommended that you avoid having intercourse when you have an active urinary tract infection. When you get an antibiotic prescription, ask your doctor when the right time to resume sexual activity would be. Of course, you can still kiss and have other intimate and emotional connections.
Once you have completed a course of antibiotics and the UTI has cleared away, you should be able to resume sexual activity. But be sure to take the careful steps necessary to prevent the sex from putting you on the road to yet another one.
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