Kidney infection symptoms vs.feeling like you need to urinate often. bad-smelling urine. cloudy urine or urine with blood in it. passing only a small amount of urine even though you have to urinate frequently.
Overview
Your urinary tract is made up of several parts, including your kidneys, bladder, and urethra. Sometimes bacteria can infect your urinary tract. When this happens, it’s called a urinary tract infection (UTI).
The most common type of UTI is an infection of the bladder (cystitis). Infections of the urethra (urethritis) are also common.
Like an infection of the bladder or urethra, a kidney infection is a type of UTI. While all UTIs require medical evaluation and treatment, a kidney infection can be quite serious and can lead to potentially severe complications. For this reason, it’s important to know when your UTI is a kidney infection.
Kidney infection symptoms vs. symptoms of other UTIs
A kidney infection can share many symptoms in common with other types of UTIs, such as cystitis and urethritis. Symptoms common to any type of UTI can include:
- a painful or burning sensation when urinating
- feeling like you need to urinate often
- bad-smelling urine
- cloudy urine or urine with blood in it
- passing only a small amount of urine even though you have to urinate frequently
- abdominal discomfort
In addition to the symptoms above, there are some more specific symptoms that can indicate that your infection has moved into your kidneys. These symptoms can include:
- fever
- chills
- pain that’s localized in your lower back or side
- nausea or vomiting
Kidney infection causes vs. causes of other UTIs
Normally, your urinary tract is well-equipped to prevent infections from occurring. This is because the regular passage of urine helps to flush pathogens out of the urinary tract.
UTIs occur when bacteria make their way into your urinary tract and begin to multiply, which can lead to symptoms. Many times, these bacteria are from your gastrointestinal tract and have spread from your anus into your urinary tract.
E. coli bacteria cause most UTIs. However, urethritis can also occur due to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Women are more likely to develop a UTI than men. This is because of the female anatomy. The female urethra is shorter and closer to the anus, which means bacteria have a shorter distance to travel in order to establish an infection.
If left untreated, these UTIs can continue to spread upward into your kidneys. A kidney infection can lead to serious complications, including kidney damage or a life-threatening condition called sepsis.
In other words, kidney infections are generally the result of a less severe UTI’s progression due to lack of treatment.
However, although most kidney infections occur due to the spread of another UTI into a kidney, they can sometimes occur in other ways as well. Kidney infections can also happen following kidney surgery or due to an infection that spreads from another part of your body besides the urinary tract.