Frequent urination, pain and burning during urination and cloudy urine are main symptoms of urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infection is common in patient with diabetes, sickle cell disease and sexually active woman. Poor toilet habit is another major reason of this infection as bacteria can enter through urethra. There are mainly two type of urinary tract infection: upper urinary tract infection which mainly affects upper part of urinary tract and lower urinary tract infection which usually affect lower part of urinary tract. Majority of acute (severe) infections involve a single organism commonly Escherichia coli, where as chronic and recurrent infections may be mixed infections. Severe infections are largely self limiting; high urine flow rate with frequent bladder emptiness may suffice. Many single anti-microbial agents have been tried but three day regimen treatment is considered most favorable for lower urinary tract infection. Upper urinary tract infections require more aggressive and longer treatment. Whatever the case may be, treatment longer than two weeks is seldom accepted.
Urinary Tract Infections Symptoms & Treatment
Bacteriological investigations are very important to direct the choice of antimicrobial agent. Although, treatment may not be wait till the reports come, urine sample must be collected for bacteriological examination before deciding therapy. Commonly used class of drugs for urinary tract infections are sulfonamides, cotrimoxazole, quinolones, and ampicillin. Urinary tract infection is more common in female than in man.
Least toxic and economical antimicrobial agents should be used long enough to eliminate the bacteria from urinary system. It is advisable to choose a drug avoid disrupt normal gut and perinea flora. If recurrences are frequent then strong suppressive treatment with cotrimoxazole, nitrofurantoin, cephalexin etc may be preferred.
Prevention of urinary tract infection can be done in several ways like
