The urine infection It is one of the most frequent infections in boys and girls. It is estimated that 3% of girls and 1% of boys suffer a urine infection before reaching age 11.
By prevalence you can already see that girls suffer more than boys. It is a matter of anatomy and logic: girls have a shorter urethra and the urine outlet is closer to the anus than in boys, making it easier for germs to reach it. It is an important detection infection, because at an early age it could leave important sequels. Therefore, because of the prevalence and seriousness that they can become, we are going to talk about the most important thing parents should know about urine infection.
What are the causes?
The causes that can cause our child to have a urine infection are several. On the one hand there are the urinary tract malformations, the most frequent being vesicoureteral reflux, which is the return of urine from the bladder to the ureters (it is normal for the ureters to carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder and not to return), so that the diaper does not change as often as necessary, that adequate hygiene is not performed (cleaning girls in the direction of vulva to anus, and not the other way around) and if it is a boy who has a very closed foreskin, a very marked phimosis that could favor the retention of microorganisms in the area of the glans and that rise through the urethra, to give some examples.
Infections may also occur if the boy or girl does not empty the bladder well, something that could happen if there is any neurological alteration or if there is constipation, when it comes to bother the bladder muscles to do its function
What symptoms does a urine infection give
The urinary infection symptoms they depend a little on the area in which the infection occurs, since it can occur in any of the structures of the body through which the urine passes, from the kidneys until it leaves (kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra). When the infection occurs in the bladder it receives the name of cystitis and the symptoms are lower abdominal pain, smell and urine color stronger than usual, itching at the time of urination and polaquiuria (urination more times but always a small amount ).
If the infection affects one kidney or both, it is called pyelonephritis and it is a more serious disease than the previous one, so much so that if left untreated it can leave irreversible damage to the kidneys. The symptoms already mentioned are pyelonephritis, which adds pain in the lower back, chills and fever.
In babies, who do not explain their symptoms, it is a bit difficult to get the diagnosis right with the naked eye. They are irritable, they reject some food shots, the weight stagnates, they vomit, they have a fever… The good thing, or the least serious, is that being a habitual infection doctors usually look for it when the child is not well and the focus of the infection is not found.
Possible sequelae that can cause a urine infection
Those who are most at risk of having sequelae are young children, both because of the immaturity of their kidneys and how small they are and how late the diagnosis may become if the infection is not suspected. The sequelae that can lead to a urinary infection are scars on the kidney or kidneys, being able to deteriorate its function and working less than if the kidney were healthy, arterial hypertension, etc.
How it can be serious, the important thing is to diagnose the infection sooner to treat it and prevent things from getting worse. If we also take into account that 60% of breastfeeding children end up having one or more infections in the future, which can once again affect the kidneys if they are not caught in time, rapid detection is even more important.
How do you make the diagnostic? How is it treated?
The first step for diagnosis is take a urine sample and analyze it. The fastest method, although less reliable, is to put the urine in contact with test strips that in two minutes tell us if there is a presence of leukocytes or blood in the urine that may indicate the presence of infection. If any of the values are altered, the urine must be analyzed in a laboratory to identify the presence of germs by microscopy.
It is also done a urine culture to see what germ grows and how to act to eliminate it. As the culture takes days to perform the antibiotic treatment, it begins before the results are obtained, in order to prevent the infection from becoming complicated. Then, if the culture shows that the treatment is wrong (the bacteria is resistant to the antibiotic that the child is taking) the correct antibiotic can be prescribed to end the guilty germ (usually the treatment is successful because most often the causative germ is the Escherichia coli, well known).
If pyelonephritis is suspected, or if it is a newborn baby or an infant, the treatment is usually carried out in a hospital, where more than one antibiotic (intravenous) can be administered to make it safe and to do other tests that can show what the severity of the infection is, if any type of injury has occurred and what is the possible cause (if there is any malformation that could cause another urine infection in the future, ...).
If the child is already one year old, and it is a urine infection in an area away from the kidneys, the treatment can be done at home.
One week after finishing the treatment another control urinoculture should be done to confirm that thanks to the treatment there is no germ left in the urine. If there are still germs, it will be necessary to give treatment again, because for a few, they may occur in a few days a second infection (which would be the same, but not completely cured).
And if it is confirmed that there has been pyelonephritis?
If it is confirmed that there has been involvement at the renal level, the parents should become expert diaper sniffers (there is no need to do any course, this is easily learned, remembering how the diapers smelled when the infection occurred) and the child should refer to the nephrologist to make periodic checks in order to see how the child evolves (if he does more infections, if he does not, if he needs to take an antibiotic preventively for a while, etc.) and to request the tests he deems appropriate.
The most common tests are the call CUMS, what is done to see if the child has vesicoureteral reflux and needs treatment of some kind and the renal scintigraphy, which is usually done when the child has already grown a little and has stopped making infections, to know how the kidneys are, if there are scars and ultimately to know how they are working.
Can you prevent a urine infection?
It may be difficult to ensure that a child never suffers from any urine infection, and more so if he has any type of malformation, but as the main cause of an infection is the entry of germs that come from the anal area or from the Yes, we can do something that minimizes this colonization as much as possible:
- Change diapers frequently. It is better to buy cheap diapers and change them often than to buy some very expensive ones that absorb wonderfully and leave them to the child for hours.
- Explain to older children that they should not hold urine, but often go to the sink (in this way the urine is not retained in the bladder and, when urinating, cleanses outwards).
- Dry the genitals After peeing. In girls cleaning from top to bottom, from vulva to anus, obviously.
- Use cotton underwear and soft soaps.
- Offer the children Water So they go drinking.
