Author: Xiong Siqing (Ji'an Central People's Hospital)
Xiao Li is a young, beautiful girl, 26 years old this year, with a lively and cheerful personality, and colleagues say that she is everyone's pistachio. Just 20 days ago, Xiao Li ushered in the most important moment of her life, she and the handsome Xiao Wang married, and the leaders and colleagues of the unit went to the wedding site to congratulate her.
The honeymoon of the newlywed marriage should have been the happiest and happiest time in his life, but Xiao Li suddenly had discomfort such as frequent urination, urgency, and pain in urination on the third day after marriage.
At first, she didn't care, nor did she tell her husband, but she went to the pharmacy to buy some anti-inflammatory drugs to eat, and after taking the medicine, these uncomfortable things were better. But the good times did not last long for a few days, she repeatedly appeared frequent urination, urgency, pain in urine, and in severe cases, there was also hematuria, which attracted Xiao Li's attention.
After Xiao Wang learned of the situation, he immediately took his wife to the urology department of the hospital to see a doctor. After detailed questioning, the doctor learned that they were a newlywed couple, and then gave Xiao Li a routine urine test, diagnosed acute cystitis, and prescribed oral antibiotics for her to eat at home, after 3 days, Xiao Li's uncomfortable symptoms were completely better.
The doctor told her that this disease is also called "honeymoon disease", many newlywed women are prone to occur, mainly because of the first sexual life or frequent sexual life, so that the natural barrier around the female urethral opening is destroyed, and the bacteria invade the bladder through the urethra, causing cystitis.
The doctor also told her to pay attention to hygiene before and after sex and urinate in time, which can prevent the appearance of urinary tract infections.
First, why do urinary tract infections prefer women?
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Urinary tract infection is a general term for infections in various parts of the urinary system, including urethritis, cystitis and pyelonephritis, mainly the inflammatory response caused by the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria in the urinary system, some people are acute onset, and some people are chronic.
Due to the characteristics of physiological structure, the urethra of girls is obviously shorter than that of men, and the urethra is relatively straight, and bacteria are easy to invade, so girls are more likely to have urinary tract infections than boys, especially women with frequent sexual life.
In addition, women during pregnancy and menopause are also more likely to develop urinary tract infections due to estrogen changes, weak vaginal and urethral self-purification.
If the girl does not carry out local hygiene cleaning in time after intercourse, it is easy to cause bacteria to invade the urinary system through the urethra, thus triggering urinary tract infections.
In addition, boys should not be complacent. You know, girls urinary tract infection, boys also have to bear half of the responsibility for this!
If boys do not pay attention to personal hygiene, or even have sexually transmitted diseases, if they do not take protective measures such as wearing condoms during sexual life, they are also prone to urinary tract infections in girls.
In addition, people with the following risk factors, both men and women, are also at high risk of urinary tract infections:
Long-term urinary tract intubation, such as urinary catheters, cystoustomy tubes, ureteral stent tubes;
Suffered from urinary obstructive diseases, such as urinary stones, urethral stenosis, neurogenic bladder, urinary tumors, etc.;
After urinary diversion surgery;
There are diabetes, renal insufficiency, immunodeficiency diseases and so on.
2. How to detect urinary tract infections?
Urinary tract infections occur in different areas and the symptoms are different.
Cystitis, urethritis is mainly based on local symptoms, generally systemic symptoms are not obvious, such as urinary tract irritation symptoms such as urinary frequency, urgency, pain of urination, and some patients may also have different degrees of hematuria and urethral secretions.
Acute pyelonephritis is mainly based on systemic symptoms, such as fever, chills, general weakness, etc., and may also be accompanied by low back pain, urinary tract irritation and other symptoms.
So, what tests do you have to do when you go to the hospital to confirm the diagnosis?
Generally speaking, the diagnosis can be confirmed by doing urine routine and blood routine tests.
However, many patients may also need to do urine culture + drug sensitivity, urinary ultrasound and even urinary CT, MRI and other tests to further clarify the cause and help doctors better treat.
3. I have a urinary tract infection, what should I do?
Urinary tract infections are mainly treated with sensitive antibiotics, and the use of antibiotics must be in sufficient doses and sufficient courses for the effect to be better and it is possible to be completely cured.
Antibiotics are given for 3 days for acute cystitis and 14 days for acute pyelonephritis.
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Urinary tract infections caused by pathogenic microbial infections such as gonococcus, mycoplasma, and chlamydia are sexually transmitted diseases that need to be treated with their partners and receive formal treatment.
After treatment, it must be re-examined to determine that the drug can be stopped after complete cure, otherwise it is easy to lead to repeated development of the disease and even become a chronic infection. Of course, we do not have to be overly anxious, urinary tract infection is a benign disease, after formal treatment most patients can be cured, generally will not leave sequelae.
Can urinary tract infections be prevented?
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Most urinary tract infections are preventable. Here, too, I'll give my female friends some tips in life:
Usually, drink more water, urinate more, pay attention to private parts hygiene, clean in time, change underwear frequently, and change sanitary napkins frequently during menstruation.
Before the same room, both sides must be carefully cleaned, and boys should pay special attention to turning the foreskin over to wash, because it is easy to hide dirt and dirt here.
After the same room, the girl must urinate immediately, and then carefully wash the private parts, it is best to use running water shower. This method prevents bacteria from entering the urethra and is the most effective way to prevent urinary tract infections in women.
When wiping the toilet with a tissue, be sure to wipe it from the front to the back, not the other way around, so as to prevent bacteria from the "chrysanthemum" from running into the urethra.
If there are risk factors mentioned earlier, aggressive treatment should be carried out, such as treatment of urinary stones and blood sugar control.
If urinary tract infections occur repeatedly, they can be prevented with low-dose oral antibiotics under the guidance of a doctor.
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bibliography:
SUN Yinghao. Wu Jieping Urology[M].Beijing:People's Medical Publishing House,2019,08.
Diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infection in China. Chinese Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Urinary Tract Infections (2015 Edition).Chinese Journal of Urology,2015,436(4):241-244.
*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.
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