What causes reccurrent urinary tract infections and how are they treated?
Recurrent urinarty tract infections are almost always caused by bacteria that reside in the vagina going up the very short urethra into the bladder. This is not caused by poor hygene. Women who have a tendency toward recurrent infections have particulary sticky cells in their bladder lining that allows the bacteria to stick and cause symtoms such as burning on urination, frequency and occasionally even blood in the urine. It is not understood why centain women have this condition. Recurrent bladder infections do not, as a rule,ever cause kidney damage. Bladder infections are a bothersome problem but they are not a serious health problem. Here are a couple of suggestions regarding hygiene that are helpful: • Try to void and push fluids to mechanically flush your bladder following intercourse since bacteria that can cause a bladder infection reside in the vagina, and intercouse can start these bacteria up the urethra. • Wipe from front to back i.e.,away from the urethra after urinations.
