Urinary tract infections: why they affect more women, and what you can do to prevent or treat them

UTIs are caused by bacteria entering the urinary tract, causing pain, incontinence, bleeding and sometimes nausea

The best way to treat them is with antibiotics, although some infections have shown resistance to medications

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Urinary tract infections are more likely to affect women than men. Photo: Alamy

Published: 1:00am, 26 Oct 2019Updated: 6:08pm, 27 Oct 2019

A urinary tract infection, or UTI, is normally a short-lived condition but it’s also extremely unpleasant. There is the feeling that your bladder is so full it’s about to burst, and desperately wanting to urinate every couple of minutes, only to pass a slow trickle when you finally go.

And then there’s that burning, stinging sensation, followed by the sight of blood in the toilet bowl. UTI sufferers may also complain of other symptoms like cloudy, foul-smelling urine, lower abdominal pain, nausea and fever.

Urinary incontinence is another common sign of UTI. Singer Katy Perry admitted to suffering from a loss of bladder control when she was younger, and having to wear adult diapers through high school. It wasn’t until later that doctors linked her incontinence to UTI.

According to Dr Colin Teo Chang Peng, a urologist at Colin Teo Urology in Singapore, UTI occurs when bacteria, most commonly E coli and usually from the sufferer’s gastrointestinal tract, attack a certain part of the urinary tract, for example, the kidneys, ureters, bladder or urethra. If the bacteria attack the bladder the infection is known as cystitis; if they affect the kidneys, it is called pyelonephritis and may also cause back pain.

UTI affects both sexes although the condition is most common in women. “Cystitis is the most common UTI in women because a woman’s urethra is shorter than a man’s and nearer to the anus, making it easier for bacteria to travel from the gut to the urinary tract,” says Teo.

Urinary tract infections are caused when bacteria (such as E coli) enter the urinary tract. Photo: Alamy