HEALTH TIPS FOR DISEASE PREVENTION &BETTER HEALTH

Understanding Urinary Tract Infections -- Diagnosis and Treatment

How Do I Know if I Have a Urinary Tract Infection?

Most urinary tract infections can be diagnosed by taking a good history of the patient's symptoms and examining a urine specimen for white blood cells, blood, and bacteria (urinalysis). A clean-catch urine specimen is needed, meaning that the patient must carefully clean the opening to the urethra, begin urinating into the toilet and then catch urine in a sterile cup.

Chemically treated test sticks can be dipped into the urine to identify abnormalities in the urine (such as pus, blood, and/or bacteria). If the urine dip is positive, then the health care provider may begin the patient on an antibiotic while awaiting the final results of the urine culture. A urine culture is an additional test which can determine the number and specific type of bacteria causing the infection, as well as help determine which antibiotic can best treat it. 

Other tests may be ordered if the practitioner suspects that there is some other problem causing the urinary tract infection (such as a kidney stone or a condition called reflux, in which the urine backs up abnormally from the bladder toward the kidneys), or if there is a history of recurrent infections.

Because urinary tract infections in men are quite rare, most men who are diagnosed with