How to Know if You Have Pyelonephritis

Kidney Infection (Pyelonephritis)

Kidney infections (pyelonephritis) typically happen when bacteria is not flushed out of the torso with urine. These bacterial infections occur in about 3 to vii of every ten,000 people in the U.S.

Overview

What is kidney infection (pyelonephritis)?

Infection in the urinary tract can involve the lower tract especially the float (cystitis), prostate (prostatitis) or the upper tract and kidney (pyelonephritis). Information technology is normally a bacterial infection. The affliction occurs in roughly 3 to seven of every 10,000 people in the United States. The occurrence in meaning women is nigh 2 percent. It is readily treatable if diagnosed early.

A bacteria called Escherichia Coli (E Coli) causes about 90 percent of kidney infections. The bacteria migrate from the genitals through the urethra (the tube that removes urine from the body) into the bladder and upwards the tubes (ureters) that connect the bladder to the kidneys.

Some bacteria, such as staphylococcus infections, tin enter the kidneys from the bloodstream.

Symptoms and Causes

What are the causes of kidney infections (pyelonephritis)?

Normally, bacteria are flushed out by the flow of urine. However, several issues can increment the risk of a kidney infection. These problems tin can include:

Structural abnormalities (strictures, stents, stones, surgery) blocking urine flow.
An enlarged prostate gland (benign prostatic hyperplasia) compressing the urethra.
Backflow (reflux) of urine from the float to the kidneys.
If your immune arrangement is affected (low white blood prison cell count, apply of certain medications, HIV, cancer, an organ transplant).
Pregnancy, during which time the enlarging uterus can clasp the ureters and reduce the catamenia of urine, allowing the bacteria to migrate to the kidneys.
Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus.

What are the symptoms of kidney infection?

A number of symptoms tin indicate to your medico that you lot may have a kidney infection. The more than severe the symptoms, the more likely the infection involves the kidney. Symptoms of a kidney infection include:

Sudden onset of chills
Fever over 100 degrees Fahrenheit
Hurting in the groin, lower back or side
Nausea
Vomiting
Abdominal muscle spasm

More general symptoms of upper kidney infection include:

Flushed or reddened pare
Painful urination
Increased urination
Unproductive attempts to urinate despite feelings of urgency
General ill feelings
Cloudy urine
Abnormally colored urine
Blood in the urine
Foul smelling urine

If you experience any of these sudden onset symptoms, please seek medical attention.

Diagnosis and Tests

How are kidney infections (pyelonephritis) diagnosed?

Two common laboratory tests are performed to diagnose kidney infections (pyelonephritis). A urine sample is examined nether a microscope to determine if white and/or red blood cells are present. The urine is as well sent to the lab to see if bacteria grow in a urine civilization. If a person is very sick, blood cultures may besides exist sent. The strain of leaner that are cultured volition determine the type of therapy used in your treatment.

Pyelonephritis can frequently be treated without X-ray studies, unless your doctor suspects in that location may be an improver problem. CT scans produce images of structures and organs and these scans are usually done without contrast (dye). A renal ultrasound may sometimes suffice for evaluation.

Management and Treatment

How are kidney infections (pyelonephritis) treated?

A physician will treat the illness based on his or her examination. He or she may start the patient on the standard treatment of a course of antibiotics before the lab tests results are bachelor. The medication may change once the verbal strain of bacteria is revealed by the lab tests.

If the handling is effective, the patient should feel meliorate in two to three days. If not, your healthcare provider will start looking for additional bug. Most antibiotic treatments final for xiv days and it is essential that patients have the pills as recommended for the full fourteen days even though symptoms may disappear after a few days. The disappearance of symptoms does not mean all bacteria are killed. Some may remain and the infection may reappear.

There is also a business that those bacteria that remain may develop resistance to the medication. For some reason the affliction is more difficult to treat in men and they may have to accept medication for up to six weeks. Patients with astringent illness, those that have meaning nausea and vomiting, high fevers, pregnant pain and signs of aridity may be hospitalized for a few days while the antibiotics are administered intravenously. Urine samples are taken after about six weeks of handling and examined to insure the bacterial infection is eradicated.

Prevention

Can kidney infections (pyelonephritis) be prevented?

Kidney infections can be prevented by keeping leaner out of the urinary tract and bladder. Infections in the kidney oftentimes start as a lower tract infection in the bladder. Past preventing these infections, you may exist able to prevent kidney infections.

At that place are several ways to avoid infection and keep your kidneys healthy. These tips tin can include:

Hydration: Information technology is important to beverage adequate fluid (not only water) every day simply there is no specific recommendation that applies to every patient.. The corporeality tin can change if you have certain medical conditions or live in a particularly hot climate. Talk to your healthcare provider about the recommended amount of water you lot need each day.
Urinate completely: When you need to urinate, empty your bladder completely. Belongings in your urine tin can be harmful and can promote the growth of bacteria. Urinating every several hours can help to affluent any leaner out of your body, protecting it from an infection.
Urinate after having sex: Urinating after sex helps to remove any bacteria that may have gotten into the body. Men and women should both exercise this to prevent infections.
Practice good hygiene: Keeping yourself clean can help protect your body from infections. Later on a bowel movement, wipe from forepart to back to push bacteria away from the urethra (an opening in the trunk). This is especially important for women.

Outlook / Prognosis

What is the outlook for kidney infections (pyelonephritis)?

With treatment, the outlook for kidney infections (pyelonephritis) is very positive. Information technology is vital that yous take all of any prescribed medications for the infection. You may brainstorm feeling meliorate shortly later on beginning a treatment, merely still demand to take the unabridged prescribed treatment.

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Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15456-kidney-infection-pyelonephritis