Urine Infection during Pregnancy
By: Tsou JinyeuTotal Views: 157, Word Count: 629,
Urine infection is general in pregnancy and if not treated, in few cases it progresses to cause a severe kidney infection. Treatment is done with antibiotics. The aim is to cure the infection and prevent the possible complications of pregnancy. Before going for a treatment for urine infection during pregnancy, it’s vital for women to understand its causes and symptoms.
Urine Infection and its Symptoms
Bacteria which are found in your urine are the main cause of urine infection. This might cause:
- Asymptomatic Bacteriuria: This is the place where bacteria are found in your urine but do not cause any symptoms.
- Cystitis (Bladder Infection): This is widespread in both pregnant and non pregnant women. Usual symptoms are pain when you pass urine and passing it often. You could also have other symptoms such as pain in your lower abdomen, blood in the urine and fever.
- Kidney Infection: This is rare but might occur as a complication from asymptomatic bacteriuria or cystitis. Symptoms might include: pain in a loin (side of the abdomen over your kidney), feeling sick (nausea), fever, diarrhea or vomiting and blood in your urine. You might also have symptoms of cystitis. Not all the symptoms might develop and at times a kidney infection could just cause indistinct symptoms such as feeling unwell.
Causes of Urine Infection
Majority of urine infections are caused by bacteria that come from your own bowel. They don’t cause any harm in your bowel but could cause infection if they get into other parts of your body. After passing the stool (feces), there are some bacteria which lie around the anus (back passage). These bacteria could at times travel to your urethra and into your bladder. Some bacteria flourish in urine and multiply quickly to cause infection.
Urine infections affect more women than men as their urethra (the tube from the bladder that passes out urine) is shorter and opens near the anus. Further, pregnant women are more prone to urine infections than non pregnant women. This is partially due to the changes during pregnancy that influence the urinary tract and tend to slow down the flow of urine.
Risk of Urine Infection during Pregnancy
During pregnancy if you have a kidney infection it might cause problems such as early labor or a small baby (in addition to your being unwell due to the infection). A kidney infection is rare but could develop as a complication from cystitis or from urine infection with no symptoms at first.
Urine Checks during Pregnancy
- You must have a routine urine test early in pregnancy. Treatment is recommended if any bacteria are found even if you have no symptoms. You must also have regular urine tests right through the pregnancy if the bacteria are found.
- You must also have a urine test if you develop symptoms of kidney infection or cystitis at any stage during pregnancy.
A seven day course of antibiotics is the usual treatment for urine infection during pregnancy as they are safe to take during pregnancy and would not harm your baby.
About the Author
Dr Tsou Jinyeu is a well known gynecologist and has been in this field since 1995. His special interests are – genetic and birth defects, high risk obstetrics, lupus in pregnancy, premature labour, premature delivery, triplets and ultrasound diagnosis. He is graduated from the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Nowdays he is working as a medical doctor at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health.
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