Urinary Tract Infections
This excerpt from ACOG’s Patient Education Pamphlet is provided for your information. It is not medical advice and should not be relied upon as a substitute for visiting your doctor. If you need medical care, have any questions, or wish to receive the full text of this Patient Education Pamphlet, please contact your obstetrician-gynecologist.
© Copyright 2000 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
About one of every five women will have a urinary tract infection (UTI) during her life. Some women will have more than one or get them often. Most UTIs are not serious. They are easy to treat with antibiotics.A Woman’s Urinary Tract
The urinary tract includes:
- The kidneys, which make urine
- Tubes called ureters that carry urine to the bladder where it is stored
- The urethra, a short, narrow tube that urine passes through on its way out of the body
How Urine Is Made
The kidneys are organs located in the lower back. They produce urine. Each has many nephrons — units that filter the blood in a two-step process.Storage and Release
The ureters transport urine from the kidneys to the bladder (where urine is stored).
Types of Urinary Tract Infections
Most UTIs start in the lower urinary tract. Bacteria can enter through the urethra and spread upward to the bladder. This causes cystitis, a bladder infection. In most cases, urethritis occurs at the same time.
Causes
Urinary tract infections often are caused by bacteria from the bowel that live on the skin near the rectum or in the vagina.
Sex is one of the causes of UTIs. Because of their anatomy, women are prone to UTIs after having sex.
Urinary tract infections also tend to occur in women who change sexual partners or begin having sex more often.
Symptoms
Symptoms of UTIs can come on quickly. The first sign of a UTI is a strong urge to urinate (urgency) that cannot be delayed. As urine is released, a sharp pain or burning (dysuria) will be felt in the urethra. Very little urine is released.
Diagnosis
Urinary tract infections are diagnosed on the basis of the number of bacteria and white blood cells found in a urine sample.
Treatment
Antibiotics are used to treat UTIs.
Repeated Infections
Urinary tract infections may recur a few weeks after treatment. These are recurrent infections. They can be frustrating, stressful, time-consuming and hard to treat.
Often the cause of repeated UTIs is never found.
Testing
After you have had a few UTIs, or maybe a single kidney infection, your doctor may refer you to a urologist. A urologist is a doctor who specializes in problems of the urinary tract.
How You Can Prevent Urinary Tract Infections
There are a number of ways to try to prevent UTIs. Some of them work some of the time or in only some women. It is likely you will find one that works for you:
- Practice good hygiene.
- Drink plenty of fluids to flush bacteria out of your urinary system.
- Empty your bladder as soon as you feel the urge or about every two to three hours.
- Drink cranberry juice or eat blueberries to help prevent the growth of bacteria.
- Wear underwear with a cotton crotch.
- During sex, you may want to try different positions that cause less friction to your urethra from your partner’s penis.
Finally …
Urinary tract infections are common and painful. In most cases, they last only a few days. If you have symptoms of a UTI, see your doctor right away.