What Are Urinary Tract Infections and What Causes Them?
What Are Urinary Tract Infections and What Causes Them
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Urinary tract infections are first and foremost "infections" the presence of unhealthy bacteria in the urinary tract. Most urinary tract infections come from the passage of unhealthy bacteria up from the outside through the urethra and into the urinary tract symptoms. In fact, it is estimated that over 90 percent of bladder and kidney infections occur this way. A urinary tract infection can come when bacteria enter the urinary tract system from the bloodstream or from a fistula between the bowel and the bladder, but these are considerably more rare than external ascension of the bacteria through the urethra.
The cause of urinary tract infections is the E. coli (Escherichia coli) bacterium, which is responsible for more than three-fourths of all community-acquired urinary tract infections. Staphylococcus saprophyticus accounts for ten percent of out-of-hospital infections and Mycoplasma, other Staphylococcal infections and Klebsiella are also rarer causes of the infection.
In hospitalized patients, we still see E. coli causing fifty percent of all urinary tract infections but other causes of such infections include Proteus, Enterobacter, Serratia, and Klebsiella, which together account for forty percent of all infections in the hospital. Ten percent of hospitalized patients with a urinary tract infection will have Enterococcus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Staphylococcus aureus.
Urinary tract infections can occur in just about anyone, especially in women. In the vast majority of situations, the person is healthy otherwise and has a normal urinary tract system. Some people, however, have severe conditions which are contributing to recurrent urinary tract infections and these people need medical attention each and every time they have a bladder infection or kidney infection. Some conditions that lead to urinary tract infections that should require doctor's intervention include:
Having a double ureter. Some people are born with two ureters together on one side of the bladder or a total of four ureters, two on each side of the bladder. This causes urine to flush up inside the ureter when the bladder is voided, resulting in dilation of the ureters and an increased risk of frequent kidney infections. Surgery is required to treat this condition because the condition will not go away on its own and it can cause damage to the kidneys over time and with an increased frequency of kidney infections.
Having a Kidney stone. Kidney stones cause bladder and kidney infections by having the bacteria attach to the stone and breed on the stone. This seeds bacteria into the urinary system, leading to recurrent infections. The stone itself may be asymptomatic so the only way you know a stone is causing the bladder infection and recurrent kidney infection is to have an X-ray test to see if a stone is present in the bladder or kidney.
Having a horseshoe kidney. This is when the kidneys have not separated in the embryonic era so that the bottoms of the two kidneys are connected together in the center of the body. This abnormality tends to increase the risk of having a recurrent urinary tract infection.
Being diabetic. If you are diabetic, you are automatically immunocompromized and you have an increased risk of all sorts of infections. If you are diabetic and have a bladder infection, you are at a greater risk of a kidney infection and you are less likely to get rid of the bladder infection on your own. See a doctor if you are diabetic and have symptoms of a urinary tract infection.
Being immunocompromized. If you have HIV, AIDS or an inherited immunocompromized state, you are more likely to get bladder infections and kidney infections. See your doctor if you have bladder infection symptoms.
Having a colovesicular fistula. This is a connection a boring through of the tissue of an infection that passes from colon to bladder. There is actually a connection between the colon and the bladder so that colonic bacteria regularly enter the bladder and cause chronic or recurrent infections. Such a fistula can be there from having ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease or cancer of the colon. If you have chronic bladder infections, you need to see a doctor for further evaluation as to why you are having such chronic infections.
Urinary tract infections happen when a bacterium, such as E. coli, enters the bladder and sticks to receptors on the sides of the inside of the bladder. The bacteria proliferate and spread across the bladder wall, causing he bladder wall to bleed from irritation. Bacteria in solution within the urine itself make the urine cloudy and foul smelling.
Sometimes the infection is confined within the bladder and urethra, resulting in a simple bladder infection. Other times, the bladder forces bacteria up through the ureter in the act of voiding and the infection travels up to the bladder, leading to a kidney infection, also called pyelonephritis. It is only through proper hygiene, the drinking of plenty of fluids and the taking of antibiotics (in many cases) that the bacteria are killed and the infection is flushed out of the bladder.
Important things to remember:
1. Urinary tract infections are infections of the bladder, urethra, and sometimes the ureters and kidneys.
2. There are several relatively serious illnesses and structural defects of the urinary tract system that impact the getting of a bladder or kidney infection..
3. The basic bacteria that cause bladder infections are Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Klebsiella species and Enterobacter/Enterococcus.
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