Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are quite notorious for giving women quite a difficult time. Urologist Dr. Cletus Georges notes that statistics show that 50–60% of women develop UTI at some point in their lives. He explains more in this article.
While there is UTI, the medical community also separately acknowledges recurrent urinary tract infection, which, as the name suggests, is a recurring condition of the same disease. What makes it stand out is that this comes about due to reinfection, i.e., the same pathogen creates problems anew.
Research has strongly pointed to sexual activity as the leading risk factor for women who have suffered from recurrent urinary tract infection, shares Dr. Cletus Georges. There is also strong evidence that recurrent UTI can result from bacteria rising from the perianal region, the space around the anus, including the one closest to the female genitalia.
For this reason, it is not surprising that the common culprit is Escherichia coli, which is a type of bacteria that is commonly found in the lower intestine. When this bacterium exits from the anus, it can travel quite easily to the woman’s vagina, and eventually, her urinary tract. Lesser cases have shown other bacterial organisms like Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Proteus mirabilis as having the same effect, adds Dr. Cletus Georges.
There are common symptoms of an infection of this type. The most popular one is dysuria, or the pain or discomfort when urinating. Urinary frequency and urgency are also common to those who are dealing with recurrent UTI. Women who have the condition also frequently complain of suprapubic pain, pain localized to the lower abdomen near the hips, and many vital organs, such as the intestines, bladder, and genitals. Haematuria is also a strong symptom, which is relatively easy to detect due to the presence of blood in the urine. Recurrent UTI is challenging to purge from the host because it may remain in traces in any part of the urinary tract even after treatment, explains Dr. Cletus Georges. It may lie silently in the bladder. Once it regains strength and numbers, it begins to make its presence felt through mildly alarming symptoms like urinary frequency and urgency, making it easy to ignore. These are things that even healthy women experience from time to time. When left untreated, recurrent UTI can eventually reveal much stronger symptoms and more startling discomforts.