Symptoms of a uti while pregnant
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in pregnancy - symptoms, causes
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in pregnancy - symptoms, causes | Pregnancy Birth and Baby beginning of content5-minute read
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What is a urinary tract infection?
A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection of the urinary system. UTIs are the most common bacterial infection that women develop during pregnancy. They can occur in different parts of the urinary tract, including the bladder (cystitis), urethra (urethritis) or kidneys (pyelonephritis). Sometimes when a UTI develops and bacteria are detected in the urinary tract, you may not have any symptoms of an infection. This is known as asymptomatic bacteriuria.
While anyone can get a UTI, they are much more common in women than men and they are also more likely to occur in the very young and the elderly.
What are the symptoms of UTIs during pregnancy?
Common symptoms of a UTI during pregnancy are similar to those that you might experience at any other time, and include:
- a burning sensation when you pass urine
- feeling the urge to urinate more often than usual
- urinating before you reach the toilet (‘leaking’ or incontinence)
- feeling like your bladder is full, even after you have urinated
- urine that looks cloudy, bloody or is very smelly
- pain above the pubic bone
- fever
Sometimes the first sign of an infection is a faint prickly sensation when you pass urine. If the infection is more advanced and has moved up to the kidneys, you may also experience fever with a particularly high temperature, back pain and vomiting.
What are the common causes of UTIs?
Your urinary tract is normally free of bacteria. If bacteria enter the tract and multiply, they can cause a UTI. There are several factors that increase the risk of developing an infection:
- Infection with common bacteria in your gut, usually from faeces (poo) can contaminate your urinary tract
- Being sexually active increases the risk of bacteria moving around the genital area and entering the urinary tract
- If you have weak pelvic floor muscles your bladder might not empty completely, which can lead to an infection
- Women with diabetes are at increased risk of developing a UTI since the sugar in their urine may cause bacteria to multiply
Are UTIs a risk during pregnancy?
During pregnancy, many changes occur in your body that increase your risk of developing a UTI, including changes to the make-up of your urine and immune system.
As your baby grows, there is also an increase in the pressure on your bladder, which can reduce the flow of your urine and lead to an infection.
UTIs can affect women whether they are pregnant or not. However, pregnant women are more likely to develop repeated or more severe infections. Up to 1 in 10 pregnant women will have a UTI but not have any symptoms at all.
Is there a risk to my baby?
Having a UTI during pregnancy can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, and your baby may be born early and smaller than usual. For this reason, even if you don’t have any symptoms, it is important to treat a UTI as soon as possible.
How are UTIs diagnosed?
UTIs are diagnosed by taking a urine sample which is checked in a laboratory for bacteria. Your doctor may also perform a physical examination if they think you have an infection.
All pregnant women are offered a urine test, usually at their first antenatal visit or soon after. You may need to repeat the urine test if you have a history of UTIs; have symptoms of a UTI; have a contaminated sample or if your doctor thinks you are at high risk of developing a UTI.
If you have frequent UTIs, you may also need additional tests such as an ultrasound of your kidneys.
How are UTIs treated during pregnancy?
When you have a UTI, it is important to drink plenty of water to flush out the urinary tract. UTIs are treated with antibiotics that are safe in pregnancy. Your doctor will select the right antibiotic, based on your infection and the type of bacteria found in your urine sample.
Can I prevent UTIs?
You can lower your risk of developing a UTI during pregnancy by:
- drinking plenty of fluids, especially water
- quickly treating any vaginal infection that may occur, including thrush or a sexually transmitted infection
- avoiding becoming constipated
Some women have also found the following tips helpful:
- urinate immediately after sex
- don’t delay going to the toilet — go as soon as you feel the need
- wipe from the front to the back after going to the toilet
- wear cotton underwear
When should I see my doctor?
See your midwife or doctor if you have any symptoms of a UTI.
It’s important not to delay treatment since infections develop quickly, and can affect both you and your baby.
More information
UTIs are very common during pregnancy, and are best treated early. If you notice the symptoms of an infection, seek medical advice from your doctor, midwife or pharmacist.
For more information on UTIs, visit the Kidney Health Australia page on UTIs.
Sources:
Government of South Australia (Urinary Tract Infection in Pregnancy), Jean Hailes (Urinary Tract Infections), Kidney Health Australia (Factsheet: Urinary Tract Infections), Government of Western Australia North Metropolitan Health Service (Urinary Tract Infection in Pregnant Women)Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content.
Last reviewed: August 2021
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Urinary Tract Infection During Pregnancy: Symptoms & Prevention
A urinary tract infection (UTI), also called bladder infection, is a bacterial inflammation in the urinary tract. Pregnant women are at increased risk for UTIs starting in week 6 through week 24 because of changes in the urinary tract. The uterus sits directly on top of the bladder. As the uterus grows, its increased weight can block the drainage of urine from the bladder, causing a urinary tract infection during pregnancy.
What are the signs and symptoms of UTIs?
If you have a urinary tract infection, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:
- Pain or burning (discomfort) when urinating
- The need to urinate more often than usual
- A feeling of urgency when you urinate
- Blood or mucus in the urine
- Cramps or pain in the lower abdomen
- Pain during sexual intercourse
- Chills, fever, sweats, leaking of urine (incontinence)
- Waking up from sleep to urinate
- Change in the amount of urine, either more or less
- Urine that looks cloudy, smells foul or unusually strong
- Pain, pressure, or tenderness in the area of the bladder
- When bacteria spreads to the kidneys you may experience back pain, chills, fever, nausea, and vomiting.
How will a UTI affect my baby?
If the UTI goes untreated, it may lead to a kidney infection. Kidney infections may cause early labor and low birth weight. If your doctor treats a urinary tract infection early and properly, the UTI will not cause harm to your baby.
How do I know if I have a UTI?
A urinalysis and a urine culture can detect a urinary tract infection throughout pregnancy.
What treatment options are available?
UTIs can be safely treated with antibiotics during pregnancy. Urinary tract infections are most commonly treated by antibiotics. Doctors usually prescribe a 3-7 day course of antibiotics that is safe for you and the baby. Call your doctor if you have fever, chills, lower stomach pains, nausea, vomiting, contractions, or if after taking medicine for three days, you still have a burning feeling when you urinate.
How can I prevent a bladder infection?
You may do everything right and still experience a urinary tract infection during pregnancy, but you can reduce the likelihood by doing the following:
- Drink 6-8 glasses of water each day and unsweetened cranberry juice regularly.
- Eliminate refined foods, fruit juices, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar.
- Take Vitamin C (250 to 500 mg), Beta-carotene (25,000 to 50,000 IU per day) and Zinc (30-50 mg per day) to help fight infection.
- Develop a habit of urinating as soon as the need is felt and empty your bladder completely when you urinate.
- Urinate before and after intercourse.
- Avoid intercourse while you are being treated for a UTI.
- After urinating, blot dry (do not rub), and keep your genital area clean. Make sure you wipe from the front toward the back.
- Avoid using strong soaps, douches, antiseptic creams, feminine hygiene sprays, and powders.
- Change underwear and pantyhose every day.
- Avoid wearing tight-fitting pants.
- Wear all-cotton or cotton-crotch underwear and pantyhose.
- Don’t soak in the bathtub longer than 30 minutes or more than twice a day.
Want to Know More?
- 7 Common Discomforts of Pregnancy
- How Your Body Changes During Pregnancy
- Pregnancy Nutrition
- Exercise During Pregnancy
Compiled using information from the following sources:
1.
American Academy of Family Physicians
https://www.aafp.org/
2. William’s Obstetrics Twenty-Second Ed. Cunningham, F. Gary, et al, Ch. 48.
Urinary tract infections vs pregnancy: treatment and prevention
Summary. Urinary tract infections are one of the most common complications in pregnant women, which can lead to serious consequences not only for the expectant mother, but also for the child. When managing pregnant women with diseases of the urinary system, it is extremely important to choose the right and, most importantly, safe therapeutic tactics. What drugs are safe during pregnancy? What obstetric and therapeutic tactics are most effective for kidney diseases in pregnant women? What diagnostic methods are best used for asymptomatic bacteriuria, acute cystitis and pyelonephritis? Professor 9 spoke about this in her speech0003 Olga Grishchenko , Head of the Department of Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Kharkov Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education during the training workshop for gynecologists "Actual Guidelines of Gynecology, Reproductology, Obstetrics", held on March 29, 2019 in Kharkov.
The event was organized by the MedExpert Group of Companies together with the National Medical University named after A.A. Bogomolets and National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education named after P.L. Shupyk.
Urgency of the problem
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common bacterial infections in outpatient practice, they take the 2nd place, second only to respiratory tract infections. According to statistics, 50% of women in the world have an episode of UTI at least once in their lives, of which 25–40% experience a relapse of the disease within 6–12 months. Every year, about 10% of women develop acute cystitis, and pyelonephritis remains the leading cause of hospitalization during pregnancy for non-obstetric indications.
In the presence of UTI in pregnant women, the risk of preterm labor and rupture of amniotic fluid, chorioamnionitis increases, premature or functionally immature children are born, and the level of perinatal mortality increases.
In the structure of UTI, asymptomatic bacteriuria is observed in 4-9.5% of pregnant women, acute pyelonephritis - in 12-25%, chronic pyelonephritis - in 33%, glomerulonephritis, urolithiasis - in 0.1-0.2%.
Risk factors and pregnancy
As a rule, infections, self-medication or improper treatment, asymptomatic bacteriuria, frequent UTIs in combination with inflammatory diseases (colpitis), lifestyle and nutrition can affect the occurrence of pathology of the urinary system.
Pregnant women have an increased risk of diseases of the urogenital tract. A high level of progesterone leads to the development of hypotension, hypokinesia, dyskinesia of the ureters and pyelocaliceal system. In turn, the uterus compresses the ureter, high intra-abdominal pressure occurs, especially in primiparas. During pregnancy, the pelvises of the kidneys increase, the growing uterus squeezes the ureter more and more, the outflow of urine from the kidneys becomes difficult, the urine stagnates, bacteria multiply in it, and inflammation easily occurs.
Infectious agents can enter the bladder by ascending (with inflammatory diseases of the urethra), descending (most often with tuberculous kidney damage), hematogenous (if there is a purulent focus in other parts of the body) and lymphogenic (with diseases of the genital organs) by.
Classification of UTIs in pregnant women
UTIs in pregnant women include asymptomatic bacteriuria, lower urinary tract infections (acute and recurrent cystitis) and upper urinary tract infections (acute pyelonephritis, chronic pyelonephritis in remission, exacerbation, latent course).
Cystitis in pregnancy: course, diagnosis
Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder wall, one of the most common urological diseases, as a rule, its cause is an infection. Symptoms of cystitis in women are manifested in the form of frequent urination, cramps and pain when urinating, pulling sensations in the lower abdomen, weakness, fatigue, irritability, blood in the urine, cloudy urine, pus or yellow spots on the underwear.
Normally, urination is not accompanied by pain. In women, painful urination can be caused by diseases of the bladder, urethra, or vagina. So, pain in the bladder, as a rule, is felt in the area of the womb, it can increase during urination or, conversely, decrease when the bladder is empty. Urethral pain associated with urination is felt by the patient directly in the urethra and is usually aggravated by urination. Urine entering the vaginal opening can cause pain if it is inflamed. Inflammation of the urethra is most often characterized by a bacterial nature and requires additional examination and treatment.
Primary diagnosis of cystitis involves an examination by specialized specialists (urologist, nephrologist, gynecologist), as well as taking an anamnesis and establishing possible causes of the disease (hypothermia, unprotected intercourse, medication, the presence of concomitant diseases).
Laboratory tests include a urinalysis for Nechiporenko cultures (helps identify the pathogen), a general urinalysis (allows you to identify erythrocytes, leukocytes, protein in the urine; the urine itself may be cloudy with an admixture of blood or pus), a general blood test (allows you to identify a picture inflammatory process, it is possible to increase the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), leukocytosis).
Among the instrumental methods, ultrasound examination (ultrasound) of the bladder, ureteroscopy and cystoscopy (in case of violation of the passage of urine) are used.
Asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy
Asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy is dangerous for both mother and fetus, against its background, 25% of women develop acute pyelonephritis. According to the World Health Organization, about 8% of women report asymptomatic bacteriuria, 15-57% of women with untreated asymptomatic bacteriuria develop symptoms of a UTI (acute cystitis or pyelonephritis). Therapy of this disease during pregnancy reduces the risk of developing acute UTIs, preterm birth, and low birth weight.
Diagnosis of asymptomatic bacteriuria can be established by detecting 10 5 CFU/ml of one bacterial strain or 10 2 CFU/ml of uropathogen Escherichia coli field of view in the absence of clinical manifestations of UTI.
It should be remembered that the risk of this pathology is most real from the 9th to the 17th week of pregnancy.
The only reliable method for diagnosing asymptomatic bacteriuria is the method of urine culture.
In accordance with Ukrainian and international guidelines for asymptomatic bacteriuria, oral antibiotic therapy with a single dose of fosfomycin trometamol is recommended.
Pyelonephritis: diagnosis
Pyelonephritis is an infectious and inflammatory disease of the kidneys of bacterial etiology with a primary and predominant lesion of the interstitium and tubular apparatus. The incidence of pyelonephritis during pregnancy reaches 33%, mortality - 3.5%, maternal mortality from kidney disease in the structure of extragenital pathology is 8-10%, the incidence of gestational pyelonephritis is 11.5%.
Primary pyelonephritis in pregnant women is difficult to treat, may be accompanied by fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, pain in the lumbar region, the appearance of pyuria, bacteriuria. As a rule, the right kidney is affected more often than the left one, with expansion of the pelvicalyceal system (according to ultrasound).
In acute pyelonephritis, the mandatory research methods are a general urinalysis (in 2 portions) 1 time in 7 days, a Nechiporenko urinalysis, a general and biochemical blood test, a bacteriological urinalysis, ultrasound of the kidneys and bladder, daily proteinuria, a biochemical blood test , blood pressure monitoring, urologist consultation. Additional research methods - computed tomography without contrast or excretory urogram, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging - are carried out exclusively for strict, sometimes vital, indications.
It should be remembered that dysuria in primary acute cystitis with a body temperature of 38 ° C and chills may indicate acute ascending pyelonephritis. A sharp dysuric syndrome is characteristic of the associated cystitis during exacerbation of chronic pyelonephritis. Urinary syndrome (proteinuria, leukocyturia, hematuria, etc.) may periodically disappear with a unilateral process and ureter occlusion; therefore, serial urine tests are necessary.
The degree of leukocyturia does not always correspond to the severity of the inflammatory process. A single urine culture gives at least 20% false positive results. Bacteriuria appears and can be detected 2 days earlier than pyuria.
Choice of drugs for the treatment of pregnant women with UTIs
There are certain requirements for antibiotics for the treatment of UTIs in pregnant women. In particular, they must be effective against most pathogenic pathogens, have the ability to create a high concentration in organs - foci of infection, have a long half-life sufficient to maintain a high concentration of the antibiotic in the blood, not have toxic and allergic effects, be well tolerated by patients, be harmless to mother and fetus.
It has been shown that for the treatment of pregnant women with acute cystitis, asymptomatic bacteriuria, acute pyelonephritis, it is advisable to use antibacterial uroseptics. In particular, fosfomycin trometamol has a bactericidal effect associated with blocking the bacterial enzyme involved in the synthesis of the cell wall, as well as an anti-adhesive effect (it destroys the fimbria of Escherichia coli, preventing it from fixing on the wall of the urothelium and contributing to leaching from the urinary tract).
After a single dose of the drug, the therapeutic concentration is observed for 48 hours (this is enough to sterilize urine and recover).
An alternative to antibiotics are phytoneering preparations with anti-adhesive and antibacterial activity, as well as anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, nephroprotective properties.
Organization of care for pregnant women with UTI and prevention
Delivery of pregnant women with UTI (without obstetric pathology) is carried out through the natural birth canal, taking into account the obstetric situation.
There are degrees of risk of pyelonephritis:
- I degree - uncomplicated pyelonephritis that occurred during pregnancy;
- II degree - chronic uncomplicated pyelonephritis, noted before pregnancy;
- III degree - pyelonephritis with hypertension, azotemia, pyelonephritis of a single kidney.
They must be taken into account when managing pregnant women. So, at I-II degree of risk, pregnancy can be prolonged, but at III degree (creatinine> 265 μmol / l, glomerular filtration rate < 30 ml / min), pregnancy should be terminated.
Prevention of UTIs in pregnant women should include sanitation of the vagina in case of violation of its microflora and other sources of infection (teeth, pharynx, etc.), normalization of bowel function, optimal water regime.
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Marina Kolesnik,
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