06-19-2024 Primetime - Flipbook - Page 8
8
A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, June 19, 2024
HEALTH
All about UTIs
How to try to prevent
this common ailment
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
Tina
Zhang
Y
ou go to urinate and there’s a burning sensation. The cause? Probably
a UTI, a urinary tract infection, something far too common in women as
we age.
“We refer to any infection involving the
urinary tract as a UTI,” says Dr. Christiana
(Tina) Zhang, a primary care physician and
assistant professor of medicine at Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“That’s because ‘UTI’ has become a
catch-all term for infections involving the
whole urinary system. A recent study says,
‘More than 50% of women will develop a
UTI at least once in their lifetime.’”
Our normal urinary systems, both male
and female, include two kidneys, two ureters, a bladder and a urethra. Its purpose is
to clean our blood; to do that, it runs about
150 quarts of blood each day through
those kidneys. It is rather incredible that
we don’t have more problems. But when
we do, it makes life very uncomfortable.
“All the different parts of the urinary
tract can become infected. The most common infections involve the lower urinary
tract, including the bladder and urethra,”
explains Zhang. “Infections like cystitis –
an infection of the bladder – can become
more complicated and result in an infection
of the kidneys, called pyelonephritis.”
“Pyelonephritis is a type of urinary
tract infection where one or both kidneys
become infected. They can be infected by
bacteria or a virus. It can cause people to
feel very sick and it requires treatment,”
says the American Urological Association
(www.urologyhealth.org).
Symptoms
The most common symptoms for a UTI
are a burning sensation when you urinate,
more urgency to urinate and more frequent
urination.
Dysuria refers to the painful or uncomfortable sensation experienced when you
urinate. Should this happen to you, see
your doctor, either primary or gynecologist, as soon as possible. Even though
this is probably an uncomplicated UTI, you
are better off taking care of it immediately
as it can affect the quality of your life and
should be managed.
If your symptoms include fever and
chills, with, possibly, flank pain around
your kidneys (they’re actually toward your
back), it could indicate a more complicated
infection, so it’s important to address it
right away.
Testing
“There are two tests that we would
recommend to determine if you have a UTI:
a urinalysis and a urine culture,” Zhang
explains.
“A urinalysis can test for a lot of things,
such as pH, protein, glucose and blood
in your urine. We specifically look at three
items in the urinalysis that may indicate a
UTI is present:
• Nitrites: the presence of nitrites in the
urine indicates that there may be an
infection
• Leukocyte esterase: the presence
of leukocyte esterase indicates that
there are white blood cells in your
urine, which may be of concern for
infection or inflammation.
• White blood cells: these will be elevated if there is inflammation or
an infection in the urine”
A urine culture, which can take a
day or two, will identify the specific type
of bacteria that’s causing the infection
and identify any antibiotics to which it is
susceptible or resistant. That way, the
treating physician ensures the antibiotic
will be effective. The results usually take a
bit longer to come back compared to the
urinalysis.
Once the infection is confirmed, your
health care provider will prescribe an antibiotic to treat it. One warning: always take
the complete course of any antibiotic you
are prescribed. If you don’t take all the
pills, there is a chance some of the infection will remain in your body. That could
cause a relapse. You don’t want that to
