What Is Urinary Tract Infection?

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a bacterial infection or inflammation of the bladder (cystitis), kidneys (pyelonephritis), or urethra (urethritis), leading to bacterial colonization of the urine. Infection of the urinary tract is a common problem, causing more than eight million office visits annually in the United States. UTI is the second most common infection that affects women. UTIs typically affect young, sexually active women. A lower UTI is an infection or inflammation of the bladder or urethra. Upper UTIs involve infections of the ureters and kidneys. Simple or uncomplicated UTIs are infections experienced by women with no significant history of UTIs and are characterized by new onset of mild to moderate symptoms. A complicated UTI commonly occurs due to structural or functional abnormality of the urinary tract. UTIs can be due to acute or chronic infections (Buttaro, Trybulski, Bailey, & Sandberg-Cook, 2011).
Symptoms of acute uncomplicated UTIs are due to bladder irritation exhibiting signs of increased frequency, urgency, dysuria, and occasional hematuria. An uncomplicated UTI is a rare occurrence in the affected individual who is otherwise healthy. Usually, there are a small number of responsible pathogens vulnerable to first-line narrow-spectrum antimicrobial agents, and there are no urologic or gynecologic abnormalities. A complicated presentation including high fever, chills, flank pain, costovertebral angle tenderness, nausea, and vomiting is indicative of pyelonephritis or urosepsis (Buttaro et al.,