What causes Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)?
Bacteria (bak-TIHR-ee-uh), a type of germ that gets into your urinary tract, cause a UTI. This can happen in many ways: • Wiping from back to front after a bowel movement (BM). Germs can get into your urethra, which has its opening in front of the vagina (vuh-JEYE-nuh). • Having sexual intercourse. Germs in the vagina can be pushed into the urethra. • Waiting too long to pass urine. When urine stays in the bladder for a long time, more germs are made, and the worse a UTI can become. • Using a diaphragm (DEYE-uh-fram) for birth control, or spermicides (creams that kill sperm) with a diaphragm or on a condom. To read more about diaphragms, go to http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/birth-control/diaphragm-cervical-cap-shield-4244.htm. • Anything that makes it hard to completely empty your bladder, like a kidney stone. • Having diabetes, which makes it harder for your body to fight other health problems. • Loss of estrogen (ESS-truh-juhn) (a hormone) and changes in the vagina af
