What is UTI?
Urinary Tract Infection or UTI as it is commonly called, is the bacterial infection of any part of our urinary tract. It is quite normal for our urinary tract to contain different fluids, salts and even waste products. But if the number of bacterial cells multiplies to a high level, then a person acquires UTI.

There are different kinds of Urinary Track Infection. One is bladder infection (also called cystitis) and the more serious one is kidney infection (called pyelonephritis).

Symptoms of Having UTI
The most common symptom of having UTI is pain or the burning sensation felt by the patient especially while urinating. Frequent urinating or the feeling of the need to urinate while little urine actually pass, mild to high fever (as signs of infection), cloudy or foul-smelling urine, high protein content in urine, and pain on the abdominal, back, side or groin parts of the body are the other common symptoms of Urinary Tract Infection.

Causes and High Risk Factors
Women have a higher risk of acquiring UTI. One common cause of UTI is the high rate of transfer of bacteria from the rectum or vagina to the urethra. Once the urethra is infected it can easily spread on other parts of the urinary tract. Sexual intercourse can also be a factor since the woman’s body structure provides easy access to the urinary tract. Another cause is waiting too long to urinate. If we hold our urine for too long, the bladder muscles stretch, thus weakening over time. Once it is weakened, it usually cannot empty itself completely so some urine with infection may be left in the bladder. Pregnant women and those with UTI history as children are also more prone to the infection.

Cure and Treatment
The good thing about Urinary Tract Infection is the fact that it can easily be treated. After a diagnosis has been made, doctors usually prescribe antibiotics to the UTI patient. A patient has to take the antibiotics to kill the bacterial cells until the number goes down to a significant number. After the bacteria is killed (usually just takes a number of days of medication), the infection is cured.