Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common diseases in women.
According to the medical literature, one in two women has ever developed a urinary tract infection, and about six in 10 women will experience one or more symptomatic infections in their lifetime.
What is the cause of urinary tract infection?
Why does it keep happening repeatedly?
It turns out that, in addition to the right medicine, personal hygiene and living habits play a key role.
Zhao Yi, a specialist in urology, will share with you the close relationship between urinary tract infection and living habits.
People at high risk of urinary tract infection
Urinary tract infection is medically divided into "lower urinary tract infection" and "upper urinary tract infection". The former includes urethritis and cystitis. Patients will feel red pain and burning when urinating, frequent urination and Low volume, cloudy urine, and even hematuria; the latter includes ureteritis and pyelonephritis. In addition to the above symptoms, patients may experience low back pain and fever.
In fact, UTIs can happen to anyone, but due to their physiology, women have a higher chance of getting UTIs than men, and some patients are more likely to have repeated infections.
Women's urethral opening is adjacent to the vulva, close to the vagina and anus, so they are more susceptible to bacterial infection of the vulva, vagina or anus.
And women's urethra is short, only about 5 cm, bacteria are more likely to enter the bladder from the urethra, or even reach the kidneys.
Other high-risk groups include the following:
Young women: Sexual activity is more active, and vulvar bacteria have the opportunity to infect the urethra and enter the bladder during sex; the use of spermicides also increases the risk of infection.
In addition, family inheritance is one of the factors.
Menopausal women: estrogen in women helps the growth of beneficial bacteria in the vagina and maintains the pH balance. However, women who are in menopause or after menopause will have a sharp drop in estrogen levels, which will reduce the number of beneficial bacteria and make the vagina more alkaline. Weakened the ability to resist bacteria.
In addition, older women are more likely to develop urinary incontinence and disc organ prolapse -- also risk factors for urethritis.
Diabetes and people with weakened immune function: Patients with diabetes, kidney disease or needing a urinary catheter may be more prone to urinary tract infections due to a weakened immune system.
Treatment starts with lifestyle habits
Most uncomplicated urinary tract infections are diagnosed from the patient's description of symptoms alone, and sometimes a urinalysis is required to look for the presence of white and red blood cells in the patient's urine.
If white blood cells are detected in the urine, it means that the immune system is working to fight bacteria, so it can be judged as inflammation; if red blood cells are detected, it shows that there is occult blood in the urine.
Doctors may also perform urine bacterial cultures (commonly known as "seeds") to identify the type of bacteria that causes inflammation, and then prescribe antibiotics accordingly.
The course of antibiotic treatment for acute urinary tract infection ranges from three to seven days, depending on the severity.
However, recurrence of urinary tract infections is common, and some women may become infected again weeks or months after they have recovered.
For patients with multiple recurrences, they should be dealt with in various ways: first, the cause of the disease must be found, such as whether the patient belongs to a high-risk group.
In addition, living habits are closely related to urethritis, so doctors will also recommend patients to improve their living habits.
Medical literature points out that after the daily water intake of patients with recurrent urethritis increases to more than 1.5 liters, the risk of infection is significantly reduced, so it is recommended that patients with recurrent urethritis drink more than 1.5 liters of water per day.
Patients should also pay attention to personal hygiene. After using the toilet, they should wipe from front to back to avoid bringing bacteria from the vulva and anus to the urethra.
Many women mistakenly believe that the use of alkaline detergents (such as liquid soap, Dettol, etc.) to clean the vulva has the effect of "sterilization and disinfection". This is a big mistake - this will change the pH of the vulva and reduce the number of beneficial bacteria. On the contrary, it will make the urethra more susceptible to bacterial infection, creating a vicious circle. Some cleaners claiming to be "special for the vulva" should not be used excessively, but in fact, using clean water to clean the vulva is enough.
On the other hand, women can take cranberry extract supplements, such as cranberry or cranberry juice, to help prevent urinary tract infections.
Zhao Yi, a specialist in urology
Myth 1:
Urine turns orange after taking antibiotics?
Not too!
Antibiotics work to kill bacteria, that is, to destroy the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections. They do not change the color of urine.
Many times, doctors will also prescribe another symptom-modifying drug, such as Phenazopyridine, to relieve discomfort in the lining of the urinary tract caused by inflammation.
One or two hours after the patient takes these drugs, the urine will turn orange or dark brown, which is normal and nothing to worry about.
Myth 2:
Urethritis or discitis?
Urethritis is a urinary system infection, while disc inflammatory disease is more common in gynecological system infections.
Although discitis can also cause similar symptoms to urethritis, such as burning pain in urination and abdominal discomfort, patients with discitis will have yellowish-white vaginal discharge, and the discomfort during sexual activity will be more severe than that of patients with urethritis.
On the contrary, patients with urethritis have more obvious discomfort in urination, and the symptoms of the two are actually different.
However, disc inflammatory disease and urethritis can occur at the same time. If there are any symptoms of infection, it needs to be diagnosed by a doctor and prescribed the right medicine.
Website of the Hong Kong Society of Urology: https://www.hkua.org
Hong Kong Society of Urology YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUnlbbQ6ugAUSpFY0-g-P7A
(Information provided by the Hong Kong Society of Urology)
