How to Prevent Urinary Tract Infection

This hub will give you tips and suggestions on how to prevent urinary tract infection or UTI.

UTI is defined by both symptoms and lab findings. Symptoms of UTI include painful urination, blood in urine, fever, lower abdominal pain, feeling the urge to urinate frequently, back pain.

UTI include cystitis (infection of urinary bladder) or pyelonephritis (infection of the kidneys) which is more severe. Symptoms vary depending on the level of the infection (locally or systemically) or the severity of the bacteria involved.

Lab findings include evidence of infection in urine analysis i.e. presence of bacteria and white blood cells in urine and positive urine culture and/or blood culture in severe cases.

1. Drink a lot of fluid. Since UTI is caused by colonization of bacteria in the urinary tract system, drinking a lot of fluid will provide good urine stream and flush out the bacteria from the body and decrease the chance that the bacteria will grow and cause infection.

2. Do not hold urination. When you hold urination, urine get stagnated in the urinary tract and cause bacteria to grow. Normally urinay bladder is a sterile environment, but when urine keep stagnated in the bladder for a long time, bacteria from the outside (e.g. vagina or urethra opening) can move upward to the bladder and then grow there. This is the harbinger of infection.

3. Drink a lot of fluid and urinate after sexual intercourse. The act of sexual intercouse especially for women introduce bacteria from the outside e.g. from vagina to urethra and eventually to the urinary bladder. If bacteria can stay in the bladder and grow, infection will ensue. Drinking a lot of fluid and urinate, again flush the bacteria out from the bladder and decrease the chance of infection.

4. Remove urinary catheter as soon as it is not needed. When you are in a hospital for whatever reasons, you may need to have a urinary catheter placement as part of treatment regimen. When the urinary catheter is no longer needed, get that removed. Catheter that stays in the bladder for too long allows bacteria to colonize and grow. Usually your physicians are aware of this and will remove the catheter as soon as it is not needed. However sometimes this can be overlooked. So ask yourself and your physicians daily, if the urinary catheter is needed or not.

5. For women, when wiping yourself after urination or bowel movement, make sure you clean yourself from front to back. Otherwise you may introduce bacteria from vagina or even worse from your anus to the urethra and then to urinary bladder.

6. Sexually active women who use spermicidal (espicially together with diaphragm) for contraception may have increased risk for UTI. Even condoms with spermicide may increase the risk. Avoid using them or change to other forms of contraception or abstinence from sex will likely reduce chance of UTI.

7. Cranberry juice has been shown in clinical data to be an effective home remedy in preventing UTI. Studies have suggested that cranberry juice provides a mediater that prohibits bacteria from binding to lining of urinary bladder and hence prevent infection to occur. Be careful if you are diabetic, however since your blood sugar may be high.

8. For those that have frequent UTIs (i.e. 2 or more episodes in 6 months), prophylaxis with antibiotic may be needed. You need to consult your doctor.

9. On the other hand, if you take antibiotics for other reasons for too long, it can change the natural protective condition of the area around your vagina or urethra opening and cause bacteria to change strains and become more likely to cause infection. So stop using antibitics to treat your medical conditions as soon as they are not needed any more. Make sure you check with your doctor before changing your antibiotic regimens.