Urinary Tract Infection In Adults
According to the most recently available combined data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, in 2007 there were 8.6 million ambulatory visits for UTI in both men and women in the United States.123 Pyelonephritis is far less common than cystitis, comprising approximately 250,000 cases per year in the United States.77
May Loo MD, in, 2009
Treatment Strategies For Recurrent Utis
Recurrent urinary tract infections, defined as three or more UTIs within 12 months, or two or more occurrences within six months, is very common among women these but arent treated exactly the same as standalone UTIs. One of the reasons: Continued intermittent courses of antibiotics are associated with allergic reactions, organ toxicities, future infection with resistant organisms, and more.
Because of this, its strongly recommended that you receive both a urinalysis and urine culture from your healthcare provider prior to initiating treatment. Once the results are in, the American Urological Association suggests that healthcare professionals do the following:
- Use first-line treatments. Nitrofurantoin, TMP-SMX, and fosfomycin are the initial go-tos. However, specific drug recommendations should be dependent on the local antibiogram. An antibiogram is a periodic summary of antimicrobial susceptibilities that helps track drug resistance trends.
- Repeat testing. If UTI symptoms persist after antimicrobial therapy, clinicians should repeat the urinalysis, urine culture, and antibiotic susceptibility testing to help guide further management.
- Try vaginal estrogen. For peri- and post-menopausal women with recurrent UTIs, vaginal estrogen therapy is recommended to reduce risk of future UTIs.
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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.
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Vitamin C Kills Harmful Bacteria
Foods and fruits rich in vitamin C boosts immunity and prevents the growth of harmful bacteria in the urinary tract. It also makes the urine acidic enough to kill the infection-cause. So, any man who is already suffering from urinary tract infection must have foods that are enriched with vitamin C. Mango, papaya, strawberries, watermelon, kiwi, grapefruit, orange, berries, pineapple, cantaloupe are some of the fruits that are the rich sources of vitamin C. Other than these, you should also make broccoli, bell peppers, cauliflower, and tomatoes integral to your regular diet. This way, you will keep yourself safe from the troubles of urinary tract infections.
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Antibiotics For Uti: Whatre Your Options
Urinary tract infections begin when microbes enter the urinary system, overcome the bodys natural defense mechanisms, and multiply.
For many patients, these infections can be uncomfortable.
Although fungi or viruses can cause some UTIs, bacterial microbes are the primary cause behind most infections.
The best way to treat a bacterial UTI is to kill the germs causing the condition with antibiotics. Patients who take antibiotics for UTIs often report experiencing relief within just a few days.
Lets take a closer look at the different antibiotic options for UTI treatment.
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How Is A Uti Diagnosed
To diagnose a UTI, your GP will examine you and ask you questions about your general health. Sometimes that might be enough to diagnose a UTI. Your doctor may want you to provide a urine sample to identify what bacteria is causing the infection. Your doctor may also do a blood test and check your temperature and heart rate.
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A Note About Sex And Gender
Sex and gender exist on spectrums. This article will use the terms, male, female, or both to refer to sex assigned at birth. .
A UTI is an infection in any part of the urinary tract. The urinary tract is the bodys drainage system for removing urine. It consists of :
- The kidneys: organs that filter waste from the blood and produce 12 quarts of urine per day
- The ureters: the tubes connecting the kidneys to the bladder
- The bladder: the organ that stores urine
- The urethra: a tube at the bottom of the bladder that allows urine to exit the body
Most UTIs occur as a result of bacteria such as Escherichia coli . However, other types of pathogens, such as viruses and fungi, can also cause UTIs.
A UTI may occur when a pathogen enters the urethra and infects any part of the urinary tract. The infection can irritate the lining of the urinary tract, leading to symptoms
resistant infections that do not respond to traditional treatments and are more likely to result in potential complications.
Doctors may prescribe different antibiotics depending on whether the UTI is simple or complicated.
The type of antibiotic, the dose, and the length of treatment a doctor prescribes will depend on a persons health status and the bacteria found in the urine culture. For example, treatment for complicated UTIs may take 714 days and require broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics as well as hospitalization.
Doctors may prescribe the following first-line antibiotics for uncomplicated UTIs:
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Study Design And Setting
We undertook a cohort study using electronic clinical records from adults attending primary care practices contributing to the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink and linked hospital record data from the Hospital Episode Statistics database. CPRD is a database of primary care electronic health record data from participating general practices, covering 7% of the UK population.13 Included patients are largely representative of the UK population in terms of age, sex, ethnicity, and body mass index.131415 HES records cover all admissions for National Health Service funded patients treated in either English NHS trusts or by independent providers.16 Seventy-five percent of English general practices included in CPRD are linked to HES data.13 The study period was from 1 April 1997 to 30 September 2015 .
Which Antibiotic Will Work Best
Your doctor will take a urine sample to confirm that you have a UTI. Then the lab will grow the germs in a dish for a couple of days to find out which type of bacteria you have. This is called a culture. Itâll tell your doctor what type of germs caused your infection. Theyâll likely prescribe one of the following antibiotics to treat it before the culture comes back:
Which medication and dose you get depends on whether your infection is complicated or uncomplicated.
âUncomplicatedâ means your urinary tract is normal. âComplicatedâ means you have a disease or problem with your urinary tract. You could have a narrowing of your ureters, which are the tubes that carry urine from your kidneys to your bladder, a narrowing in the urethra which transports urine from the bladder out of the body, or, you might have a blockage like a kidney stone or an enlarged prostate . It’s also possible you have a urinary fistula or a bladder diverticulum.
To treat a complicated infection, your doctor might prescribe a higher dose of antibiotics. If your UTI is severe or the infection is in your kidneys, you might need to be treated in a hospital or doctor’s office with high-dose antibiotics you get through an IV.
Your doctor will also consider these factors when choosing an antibiotic:
- Are you over age 65?
- Are you allergic to any antibiotics?
- Have you had any side effects from antibiotics in the past?
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Active Ingredients Of Antibiotics For Urinary Tract Infections
There are several different types of antibiotics that can be used, if they are needed, to treat urinary tract infections. The best antibiotic for your infection will depend on the type of infection you have and what bacteria are causing it.
Antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections
| May be prescribed for: |
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Managing Multiple Episodes Of Uti:
In dogs and cats, if UTI occurs only once or twice yearly, each episode may be treated as an acute, uncomplicated UTI. If episodes occur more often, and predisposing causes of UTI cannot be identified or corrected, chronic low-dose therapy may be necessary. Low antimicrobial concentrations in the urine may interfere with fimbriae production by some pathogens and prevent their adhesion to the uroepithelium. In dogs, recurrent UTIs are due to a different strain or species of bacteria ~80% of the time therefore, antimicrobial culture and susceptibility is still indicated. Antimicrobial therapy should be started as previously described and when urine culture is negative, continued daily at the total daily dose. The antimicrobial should be administered last thing at night to ensure that the bladder contains urine with a high antimicrobial concentration for as long as possible.
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Check If It’s A Urinary Tract Infection
Symptoms of a urinary tract infection may include:
- pain or a burning sensation when peeing
- needing to pee more often than usual during the night
- pee that looks cloudy, dark or has a strong smell
- needing to pee suddenly or more urgently than usual
- needing to pee more often than usual
- lower tummy pain or pain in your back, just under the ribs
- a high temperature, or feeling hot and shivery
- a very low temperature below 36C
Antibiotics For Uti In Cats
Antibiotics for UTI need to be chosen carefully. If your pet is affected by a urinary tract infection, antibiotics are the treatment of choice. If the antibiotic you administer to your cat is not designed to attack the specific bacteria causing the infection, the treatment might only strengthen the resistance of the bacteria and worsen your cats condition. Antibiotics can also trigger allergies or have side effects. Therefore, it is important to consult your veterinarian and have your cats infection diagnosed correctly.
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When You Need Themand When You Dont
Antibiotics are medicines that can kill bacteria. Doctors often use antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections . The main symptoms of UTIs are:
- A burning feeling when you urinate.
- A strong urge to urinate often.
However, many older people get UTI treatment even though they do not have these symptoms. This can do more harm than good. Heres why:
Antibiotics usually dont help when there are no UTI symptoms.
Older people often have some bacteria in their urine. This does not mean they have a UTI. But doctors may find the bacteria in a routine test and give antibiotics anyway.
The antibiotic does not help these patients.
- It does not prevent UTIs.
- It does not help bladder control.
- It does not help memory problems or balance.
Most older people should not be tested or treated for a UTI unless they have UTI symptoms. And if you do have a UTI and get treated, you usually dont need another test to find out if you are cured. You should only get tested or treated if UTI symptoms come back.
Antibiotics have side effects.
Antibiotics can have side effects, such as fever, rash, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, tendon ruptures, and nerve damage.
Antibiotics can cause future problems.
Antibiotics can kill friendly germs in the body. This can lead to vaginal yeast infections. It can also lead to other infections, and severe diarrhea, hospitalization, and even death.
Antibiotics can be a waste of money.
When should older people take antibiotics for a UTI?
10/2013
History And Physical Examination
Clinical signs and symptoms of a UTI depend on the age of the child. Newborns with UTI may present with jaundice, sepsis, failure to thrive, vomiting, or fever. In infants and young children, typical signs and symptoms include fever, strong-smelling urine, hematuria, abdominal or flank pain, and new-onset urinary incontinence. School-aged children may have symptoms similar to adults, including dysuria, frequency, or urgency. Boys are at increased risk of UTI if younger than six months, or if younger than 12 months and uncircumcised. Girls are generally at an increased risk of UTI, particularly if younger than one year.3 Physical examination findings can be nonspecific but may include suprapubic tenderness or costovertebral angle tenderness.
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How Do I Know If The Treatment Isnt Working
If the treatment isnt working, your symptoms will stay the same, get worse, or you will develop new symptoms. Call your doctor if you have a fever , chills, lower stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. You should also call your doctor if, after taking medicine for 3 days, you still have a burning feeling when you urinate. If you are pregnant, you should also call your doctor if you have any contractions.
What If I Have Frequent Recurring Utis
Within a year of havig a UTI infection, roughy one-quarter to one-half of women will have another UTI. For these women antibiotic prophylaxis may be recommended by her health care provider. With a recurrent course of UTIs, a urine culture or imaging tests may be required for further analysis.
For recurrent UTIs, there are several antibiotic options for prevention:
- A shorter course of antibiotics at the first sign of UTI symptoms a prescription may be given to you to keep at home.
- A longer course of low-dose antibiotic therapy.
- Take a single dose of an antibiotic after sexual intercourse.
The choice of antibiotic is based on previous UTIs, effectiveness, and patient-specific factors such as allergies and cost. Antibiotics commonly used for recurrent UTIs can include sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, nitrofurantoin, cefaclor, or cephalexin.
In postmenopausal women with vaginal dryness that may be leading to recurrent UTIs, vaginal estrogen may be an effective treatment. Treatment options your doctor might recommend include: Estring, Vagifem , or vaginal estrogen creams .
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What Can I Do To Avoid Getting A Uti In The First Place
Women are more susceptible to U.T.I.s, as they are commonly known, owing to the way these germs infect: They often travel through fecal residue from the rectum to the urethra this can happen through sex or poor bathroom hygiene. Even taking great care does not make them entirely avoidable.
Here are some steps that can help prevent urinary tract infections: Drink plenty of fluids, which helps flush out the bladder. Empty your bladder after sexual intercourse. Practice good bathroom hygiene, which, simply put, means wiping from front to back.
During the reproductive years, women are as much as 50 times more likely than men to get a U.T.I. However, those numbers even out significantly in an aging population because men wind up getting surgical procedures, or have bowel control issues, that might lead to the same spread of germs from gut and rectum to the urinary tract.
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Who Else Has A Higher Risk Of A Uti
There are a handful of other factors that can boost your odds of developing a UTI. They include:
- Uncontrolled or inadequately controlled diabetes
- Certain forms of birth control, such as diaphragms that put pressure on the urethra
- Being sexually active, particularly with a new partner
- Anatomical abnormalities or blockages along the urinary tract, such as kidney stones
- Enlarged prostate
Because UTIs are so common, theyre also subject to a greater spread of misinformation than other conditions. Contrary to myth, you cannot get a UTI from using tampons or sanitary napkins, wearing tight clothing, riding a bike, or failing to urinate after intercourse.
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Editorial Sources And Fact
What Is A Urinary Tract Infection
If you have ever experienced the frequent urge to go the bathroom with painful and burning urination, you have probably experienced a urinary tract infection . UTIs are one of the most common types of infections, accounting for over 10 million visits to health care providers each year. Roughly 40% of women experience a UTI at some time, and in women, it is the most common infection. Healthcare costs related to UTIs exceed $1.6 billion per year.
A urinary tract infection can happen anywhere along your urinary tract, which includes the kidneys , the ureters , the bladder , or the urethra . Most UTIs occur in the bladder and urethra. Common symptoms include frequent need to urinate, burning while urinating, and pain in lower abdomen area.
There are different types of UTIs based on where the bacteria goes. A lower urinary tract infection occurs when bacteria gets into the urethra and is deposited up into the bladder — this is called cystitis. Infections that get past the bladder and up into the kidneys are called pyelonephritis.
Urinary tract infection symptoms may include:
- Pain or burning upon urination
- A frequent or urgent need to urinate
- Passing small amounts of urine
- Blood in the urine or or pink-stained urine
- Urines that looks cloudy
- Strong-smelling urine
- Pain, cramping in the pelvis or pubic bone area, especially in women
Upper UTIs which include the kidney may also present with symptoms of fever, chills, back or side pain, and nausea or vomiting.
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