{"id":100,"date":"2020-02-18T21:27:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T21:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthissues24.co.za\/?p=100"},"modified":"2020-02-18T21:27:47","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T21:27:47","slug":"kidney-infection-causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/kidney-infection-causes\/","title":{"rendered":"Kidney infection causes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Bacteria often infect the bladder or the urethra and spreads to one of the kidneys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Women are most commonly affected by kidney infection, as are pregnant mothers, children under 2 years of age, and individuals aged over 60 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kidney infections affect an estimated\u00a03 to 4 men\u00a0in every 10,000 and 15 to 17 in every 10,000 women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This article will explain the symptoms of a kidney infection and how it is diagnosed, prevented, and treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Fast facts on kidney infections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some key points about kidney infections. More detail and supporting information is in the main article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>One of the kidney\u2019s major roles is to remove toxins from the body.<\/li><li>Symptoms of kidney infections include\u00a0diarrhea, nausea, and\u00a0back pain.<\/li><li>Sometimes, a bladder infection may occur at the same time as a kidney infection.<\/li><li>In most cases, oral\u00a0antibiotics\u00a0can successfully treat kidney infections.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Symptoms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When someone has a kidney infection, it normally develops quite fast \u2013 in a day or a few hours.\u00a0Symptoms\u00a0of a kidney infection include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>diarrhea<\/li><li>nausea<\/li><li>uncontrollable shivering<\/li><li>vomiting<\/li><li>back pain<\/li><li>pain in the groin<\/li><li>pain in the side<\/li><li>often symptoms are worse when the patient urinates<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If there is also a corresponding bladder infection, the individual may experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>bloody urine<\/li><li>cloudy urine<\/li><li>pain or difficulty while urinating, often described as a burning or stinging sensation<\/li><li>foul-smelling urine<\/li><li>frequent urination<\/li><li>inability to urinate fully<\/li><li>pain in the lower abdomen<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Kidney Infection Causes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A kidney infection is caused by bacteria entering the urethra and reproducing in the bladder, triggering an infection. The infection then spreads to the kidneys. There are a number of ways in which the bacteria can achieve this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Toilet hygiene:<\/strong>\u00a0After going to the toilet and using toilet paper to clean the anus, there may be contact with the genitals, resulting in an infection getting through and working its way up to the kidneys. The infection could also enter via the anus. Bacteria occupy the colon and eventually cause a kidney infection.<\/li><li><strong>Female physiology:<\/strong>\u00a0Women are more vulnerable to bladder infections and ultimately kidney infections than men, because their urethra is shorter, making it easier for infections to reach parts of the urinary tract more quickly.<\/li><li><strong>Urinary catheter:<\/strong>\u00a0A urinary catheter is a tube that is inserted into the bladder through the urethra to drain out urine. Having a urinary catheter raises the risk of developing a\u00a0urinary tract infection\u00a0(UTI). This includes kidney infection.<\/li><li><strong>Kidney stones:\u00a0<\/strong>Individuals with\u00a0kidney stones\u00a0have a higher risk of developing kidney infection. Kidney stones are the result of a buildup of dissolved minerals on the inner lining of the kidneys.<\/li><li><strong>Enlarged prostate:<\/strong>\u00a0Males with an enlarged prostate have a higher risk of developing kidney infections.<\/li><li><strong>Sexually active females:\u00a0<\/strong>If sexual intercourse irritates the urethra there may be a higher risk of bacteria getting inside the urinary tract and eventually reaching the kidneys.<\/li><li><strong>Weakened immune systems:<\/strong>\u00a0Some patients with weakened immune systems may have a bacterial or fungal infection on their skin, which eventually gets into the bloodstream and attacks the kidneys.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bacteria often infect the bladder or the urethra and spreads to one of the kidneys. Women are most commonly affected by kidney infection, as are pregnant mothers, children under 2 years of age, and individuals aged over 60 years. Kidney infections affect an estimated\u00a03 to 4 men\u00a0in every 10,000 and 15 to 17 in every\u2026 <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/kidney-infection-causes\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}