Urinary tract infection (UTIs) is a very common disease in both child and adults, especially elder people. This disease can range from a mild to a severe and widespread infection, so its symptoms usually depend on its severity and the patient’s age.
In both child and adults, the UTIs can be classified in lower and upper infections according to the organs that are affected (anatomical classification).
A lower urinary tract infection refers to the bladder (cystitis) and the urethral infection (the conduit that carries the urine from the bladder to the outside).
On the other hand, an upper urinary tract infection refers to ureters (the conduit that carries the urine from the kidneys to the bladder) and kidney infections (pyelonephritis).
It is important to know that in children (especially newborns) and elder people, it can be very difficult to suspect and diagnose a UTI because, in most cases, they cannot express which symptoms they feel. Likewise, in most cases, the symptoms in these age groups may be too mild and quite nonspecific (in some cases they can also be confused with the flu). In fact, in many children and elder people, the disease is asymptomatic and the urinary tract infection is diagnosed by accident.
Here are some symptoms which are considered more specific to urinary tract infections:
1 Increased urinary frequency
This symptom can be defined as the need to urinate constantly. Some experts say that this symptom is closely related to the discomfort that the patient feels when they urinate because they do not empty the bladder completely during each urination.
2 Discomfort when urinating
It is very frequent for the patient to refer to a burning sensation or pain while urinating, which induces the patient’s voluntary resistance to the urge of urinating. If the bladder is not drained completely during urination, the frequency of full bladder sensation increases considerably.
More symptoms on next page…
