Signs and Symptoms of Kidney Infection and Preventive Measures

Kidney infection is usually caused by a bacterial infection in your urinary tract. In medical, kidney infection is termed as pyelonephritis which is a type of UTI (urinary tract infection). Traveling from your urethra or bladders it reaches to the kidney (one or both).  Kidney infection is not some severe medical condition but if neglected it could be life threatening because bacteria can invade your bloodstream making it complicated.

Following are some symptoms of the kidney infection that appear two days after infection and may vary in different age groups

• Pain in your abdomen or back
• Nausea/vomiting
• Frequent urination or frequent urge to urinate
• Burning sensation and pain while urinating (dysuria)
• Blood/pus in your urine
• The foul smell of urine
• Chills
• Fever

These are some typical symptoms of the kidney infection that can easily be controlled and cured with the oral antibiotic intake.

Cause:

The major cause of infection is a bacterial invasion but in rare cases, kidney surgery is followed by the kidney infection

  Complications:

1. If neglected for a long time, the kidney infection can lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD), hypertension (high blood pressure), or maybe kidney failure
2. It can cause septicemia which is blood poisoning caused by bacteria or bacterial toxins
3. Pregnant women with kidney infection usually give birth to babies with very low birth weight
   Prevention of kidney infection: Women are more prone to urinary tract infection because urethra in women is closer (and is shorter) to the vagina and anus, and thus bacteria spread more easily to invade in the urinary tract. You may reduce the risk of such infection by following few preventive measures mentioned below 

   

4.        Meet your fluid requirements and drink more water to flush the toxins out of your body and blood
5. • Don’t suppress your urge to pee and urinate as soon as you need to
   • Maintain good personal hygiene and wash and wipe your area after a bowel movement
   • There is no need to use deodorant and wash your genital area with scented soaps. It may disturb the natural flora of good bacteria protecting your genitalia.