Urinary tract infection route

Urinary tract infection is a disease caused by bacteria. Symptoms of urinary tract infection are most likely to occur when the body's resistance is weak. Urinary tract infection is also somewhat hereditary. If one parent has a urinary tract infection, the child is more likely to suffer from the disease. Women are also particularly prone to urinary tract infection during pregnancy. So what are the ways to prevent urinary tract infection?

Urinary tract infections are caused by direct invasion by bacteria. The incidence of urinary tract infection is quite high. Urinary tract infection is divided into upper urinary tract infection and lower urinary tract infection. Upper urinary tract infection refers to pyelonephritis, and lower urinary tract infection includes urethritis and cystitis.

Pyelonephritis is divided into acute pyelonephritis and chronic pyelonephritis. It is more common in women, with a female to male ratio of 10:1. The incidence rate is higher in rural women. It is more common in married women, women of childbearing age, elderly women and female infants, and the incidence rate is highest during pregnancy.

There are four main ways of causing urinary tract infection:

(1) Hematogenous infection: Bacteria invade the bloodstream from infection sites in the body (such as tonsillitis, sinusitis, dental caries or skin infection) and reach the kidneys, first causing multiple small abscesses in the renal cortex, and then spreading downward along the renal tubules to the renal papillae, calyces and renal pelvic mucosa. However, inflammation can also start from the papillary collecting ducts with slight damage to the renal papilla (such as crystal damage in the urine) and then spread upward and downward.

Blood-borne infection is relatively rare, less than 10%. Hematogenous infection is more common in neonates or hematogenous renal infection in patients with Staphylococcus aureus sepsis.

(2) Ascending infection: Most urinary sensations are caused by ascending infection. Under normal circumstances, there are bacteria parasitic in the urethral opening and its surroundings, but they generally do not cause infection.

When the body's resistance is reduced or the urethral mucosa is slightly damaged, or when the bacteria are highly virulent and have a strong ability to adhere to the urethral mucosa and ascend, they can easily invade the bladder and kidneys and cause infection. Because the female urethra is close to the anus and the female urethra is much shorter and wider than the male urethra, the urethra of baby girls is often contaminated by feces, making it more susceptible to disease.

(3) Direct infection: When there is trauma or infection in organs adjacent to the kidney, bacteria can directly invade the kidney and cause infection. However, this situation is very rare clinically.

(4) Lymphatic infection: The lymphatic vessels of the lower abdomen and pelvic organs have many communicating branches with the lymphatic vessels around the kidneys. There are also lymphatic vessels connecting the ascending colon and the right kidney. Bacteria can also infect the kidneys through the lymphatic vessels during pelvic organ inflammation, appendicitis, and colitis. This route of infection is even rarer, and there is currently debate about whether it even exists.