Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) - Treatment, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Causes

When to see a doctor for Urinary Tract Infection?

UTIs can be painful, & cause embarrassment, along with vomiting & pain. Your nearest Medcare clinic is on call to discuss your symptoms, offer a full diagnosis, UTI treatment & management. Untreated UTIs can lead to life-threatening situations, & if symptoms, as described above, are manifesting themselves, call to book an appointment. If you have symptoms of a urinary tract infection, contact us today for an appointment with one of Medcare’s specialist team.

Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection

If you think you may have a UTI, contact Medcare. UTI Diagnosis will involve:

• Assessment of symptoms.
• Physical examination.
• A urine test.
• A urine culture test.
• For suspected upper tract UTI, a full blood count & blood culture testing.
• Ultrasound from urinary track.

Your symptoms will be assessed, & a physical examination performed. Your healthcare professional will need to test the urine for microbes. UTI testing is common & needs to be a urine sample collected mid-stream, to avoid contaminating the sample with bacteria or yeast from the skin.

The doctor will explain how to do this. When testing the sample, doctors look for a large number of white blood cells in your urine, which can indicate infection. The doctor will also do a urine culture to test for bacteria or fungi. The culture can help identify the infection’s cause. It can also help decide which UTI treatment is best. If a viral infection is suspected, special testing may be suggested. Viruses are rare causes of UTIs but are seen in people who have had organ transplants or who have other immune system-weakening conditions.

Upper tract UTIs

In cases of suspected upper tract UTI, a complete blood count (CBC) & blood cultures may be undertaken, alongside the urine test. A blood culture makes certain infection hasn’t spread to your bloodstream.

Recurrent UTIs

If you often suffer from a UTI, your doctor might check for abnormalities or obstructions in your urinary tract. Tests for this include:

• Ultrasound: A device is passed over your abdomen, creating an image of your urinary tract organs, displayed on a monitor.
• Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP): Injected dye passes through the urinary tract, followed by an abdominal X-ray. The dye highlights your urinary tract on the X-ray image.
• Cystoscopy: A small camera is inserted through the urethra & into the bladder to see inside. During a cystoscopy, a small piece of bladder tissue may be removed & tested to check for bladder inflammation or cancer.
• A Computerized Tomography (CT) Scan: To provide more detailed images of your urinary system.

Treatment of Urinary Tract Infection

UTI treatment depends on the infection’s cause.  Your Medcare team will determine which organism is causing infection from the test results used to confirm the diagnosis. In most cases, the cause is bacterial. UTIs caused by bacteria can be treated with antibiotics. Our female urologist will provide a special UTI treatment for prevention of recurrent UTI after antibiotic treatment. However, in some cases, viruses or fungi are the cause. Viral UTIs can be treated with antivirals. Antifungal medications will be prescribed to treat fungal UTIs.

Antibiotics for a UTI: The antibiotic used to treat bacterial UTIs usually on what part of the urinary tract is affected. Lower tract UTIs are frequently cured by the use of oral antibiotics. But Upper tract UTIs need intravenous antibiotics which means injection into the veins. Results of any urine culture test can help ascertain which antibiotic treatment will best fight the type of bacteria that caused the infection.

Home remedies for a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI): There aren’t any recommended home remedies to cure UTIs. Speak to Medcare for professional advice on how best to treat the condition. However, a few things can help UTI medication work better:

• Drinking more water, this may help clear the infection faster.
• Taking cranberry juice or eating cranberries, a chemical in cranberries may help prevent certain types of bacteria from attaching to the bladder lining, which may be helpful in preventing future UTIs.
• On time urination.

Untreated UTIs

Untreated UTIs get more severe the further they spread. That’s why it’s crucial to treat a UTI — the earlier, the better. A lower urinary tract infection is the easiest to cure. Infections that spread to the upper urinary tract are more difficult to treat, & there’s a higher risk they will spread into the blood, causing sepsis - a life-threatening event. If you suspect you have a UTI, contact Medcare. A simple examination could save you a lot of pain & trouble. We are here to diagnose, treat & manage your UTI, & ensure as swift a return to good health as possible.