Kidney infection (pyelonephritis) is a specific type of urinary tract infection (UTI) that generally begins in your urethra or bladder and travels up into your kidneys. If not treated properly, kidney infection can permanently damage your kidneys or spread to your bloodstream and cause a life-threatening infection. Prompt medical attention is required.
Causes of Kidney Infection
Conditions such as pregnancy, diabetes, cancer, kidney stones, and abnormalities of the urinary tract can lower your ability to fight off the bacteria that cause kidney infections. Foley catheters (tubes inserted through the urethra to drain the bladder) can also lead to infection if left in place for extended periods. Women sometimes contract kidney infections when bacteria get into the urinary tract following sex.
Structural abnormalities in the urinary system, kidney stone, an enlarge prostate gland in man, can impede the ability of completely emptying the bladder, increasing the chance of developing kidney infection. Other factors that may favorize the apparition of kidney infection are medications that lower your immunity, prolonged use of tubes used to drain urine from the bladder, diseases like cancer, HIV, diabetes or a condition that allows urine flow from your bladder back up into your urethras and kidneys, called vesicoureteral reflux. It is known that people who have this vesicoureteral reflux are susceptible of developing frequent kidney infection during childhood .
Symptoms for kidney infection
burning during urination. This is also a good sign of a UTI (and untreated Urinary Tract Infections can lead to kidney infections). Don’t confuse the burning with the itching/burning of a yeast infection. This burning is painful and will sometimes bring tears to your eyes.
a pain in the lower back, right around the waist. It could feel like a dull ache. It could be a sharp stabbing pain. It could feel like someone punching you repeatedly. Any pain concentrated to that small corner of the lower back could indicate kidney trouble.
fatigue. For people who get frequent kidney infections, the number one sign is the fatigue, which can hit suddenly. You’ll be fine, no other symptoms to speak of, then, boom, you are so exhausted that it becomes a struggle to keep your eyes open. It takes every bit of energy you can muster to keep from slumping in your chair.
Treatment of Kidney Infection
Fever, vomiting, urination problem, lower back pain are typical symptoms of kidney infection and if you are facing all these problems, then, there is nothing much to worry. Typical symptoms indicate stable health condition and for this condition, the treatment of kidney infection is done with antibiotics. The antibiotics would control the growth of bacteria found in your urine tests. Amoxicillin, trimethoprim, quinolones, norfloxacin, nitrofurantoin and sulfamethoxazole combination are some of the common drugs which are prescribed for the treatment of kidney infection. You must let your doctors know whether you are allergic to any specific drug or the drugs which you are already taking for some other ailments. Kidney infection and diseases are quite sensitive and they must be handled with care and in the course of the treatment, neither the doctor nor the patient would like to create a situation where one drug can have adverse effect on the other. Drug selection is the most vital aspect of the treatment of kidney infection.
For glomerulonephritis, treatment involves rest and antibiotics for any bacterial infection. The treatment may continue for one to two weeks after tests of blood, blood pressure, and the urine indicates that the kidneys are healthy again. Sodium and protein may be restricted. For pyelonephritis, the essential measures are to eliminate the germs with antibiotics administered orally or intravenously and to correct any obstruction. When it is impossible to eliminate the obstruction and recurrent infections continue, then long-term antibiotic therapy may be necessary.
