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Gynecology Center:
Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections

Most women over the course of their lifetime will have one or more urinary tract infections (UTIs). The symptoms include:

• Burning on urination
• Blood in the urine
• Fever

If a UTI goes untreated, the infection can move into the kidneys, which can be dangerous. A urine culture should be taken by your physician to confirm the diagnosis. Antibiotic prescribed will cure the problem in most women.

Many women, however, experience recurrent urinary tract infections which may need more aggressive treatment to achieve a cure.

About 80% of recurring UTI's are re-infections. A re-infection occurs several weeks after antibiotic treatment has cleared up the initial episode and is caused by a different organism than the one that caused the original episode.

Relapse is the less common form of recurrent urinary tract infection. It is diagnosed when a UTI recurs within two weeks of treatment of the first episode and is caused by the same organism. Relapse usually exhibits itself in the form of a kidney infection and sometimes results in kidney stones.