Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common in women and associated with considerable morbidity and health care use.
Recurrent urinary tract infections commonly present as pain while passing urine or increased frequency of urination. It can be a common problem in young, otherwise healthy women with no anatomic or functional abnormalities of the urinary tract. In those who have comorbid conditions like Diabetes mellitus, recurrent complicated urinary tract infections represent a risk for ascending infection to kidneys and can lead to Urosepsis.
Escherichia coli is the most common organism in all patient groups, but Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Proteus, and other organisms are more common in patients with certain risk factors for complicated urinary tract infections. A positive urine culture with greater than 105 colony-forming units per mL is the standard for diagnosing urinary tract infections in symptomatic patients, although culture is often unnecessary for diagnosing typical symptomatic infection.
Recurrent UTI can be occur in young newly sexually active females and can even disrupt their normal sexual life due to the fear of getting repeated infection after intercourse.
Women with recurrent symptomatic urinary tract infections can be treated with continuous or postcoital prophylactic antibiotics; other treatment options include self-started antibiotics, cranberry products, and behavioural modification. Patients at risk of complicated urinary tract infections are best managed with broad-spectrum antibiotics initially, urine culture to guide subsequent therapy, and renal imaging studies if structural abnormalities are suspected.
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