Symptoms and types of Urinary Tract Infection: Urethritis
Date:2018-12-07 click:0
Urinary tract infection is an infectious condition of the lower urinary tract caused by E. coli. UTI, the common term for this infection, is more common among women than men. Urinary tract infection however is a general and collective term for an infection in the length of the urinary tract. An important thing you have to remember about UTI is that is ascending—meaning, it starts from the lower most part of the urinary tract and tends to go up into the more vital organs of the urinary tract.
Symptoms of Urinary Tract Infection
Most commonly, UTI will present with a burning pain and sensation during urination. This is due to the inflammation of the walls of the urethra, and even other parts of the urinary tract. Such pain and burning sensation can make you writhe in pain.
Urinary frequency and urgency is also increased when a person suffers from UTI. Frequently, you may feel the urge to urinate and pass out small amount of urine. It may also be noticed that the urine will appear cloudy due to the bacterial infection. Like any other infection, it may lead to formation of pus—and this is the reason why people with UTI will have a cloudy and sometimes, foul smelling urine.
Back pain may also be manifested especially when the infection has ascended into the level of the ureter and kidneys.
On the other hand, the types of urinary tract infectionmentioned earlier have their own specific signs and symptoms, too. Firstly, nephritis can lead to fever, chills, upper, lower and side back pains (unilateral depending on the affected side), as well as nausea and vomiting. As for bladder infection or cystitis, it may result to suprapubic tenderness, lower abdominal discomfort, and painful urination, too.
Types of Urinary Tract Infection
Let us first start with the most common type of UTI, the one that occurs first in all types of UTI.
- Urethritis—this is the infection and inflammation of the urethra. Like what most of us know, urethra is the tube where the urine passes through and connects the bladder to the urinary meatus—the area where urine comes out.
- Cystitis—when the infection travels further, the bacteria can lodge in the urinary bladder. This leads to cystitis or an infection of the bladder wall.
- Ureteritis—this happens when the bacteria further moves up into the ureter, the tube which connects the bladder into the kidneys.
- Nephritis—the most dangerous form of UTI happens when the bacteria reaches the kidneys. In this case, the infection may be very dangerous because it can lead to a widespread infection in the kidneys, which can predispose a person to developing kidney diseases like kidney failure.
UTI is commonly diagnosed with the use of urinalysis—bacteria and pus may be noticed in the results of your Urinalysis. There are a lot of medications which you can be prescribed when suffering from this infection and your physician may prescribe diets, as well as modify your hygienic practices, etc. Furthermore, increasing your fluid intake and taking citrus juices are important in order to acidify your urine and flush out the bacteria inside your urinary tract.
