Pyelonephritis in Pregnancy

Pyelonephritis in Pregnancy

Pyelonephritis refers to a condition in which the uppermost section of your urinary tract becomes infected. It usually affects women with asymptomatic urinary tract, but studies have found a risk ratio of 14 to 1,000, which implies that every 14 in 1,000 pregnant women are diagnosed with acute pyelonephritis. Research also shows that 70% of cases can be avoided through subsequent treatment for bacterium found in urine.

Why Does Pyelonephritis in Pregnancy Occur More Often?
Pyelonephritis usually affects women and is relatively more common in pregnant women as compared women who are not pregnant. This usually happens due to physiological changes that take place during pregnancy. These changes may obstruct the flow of urine, which increases risk of infections.

Under normal circumstances, the ureters take urine from the kidney and empty into the bladder, from where it goes out of your body through the urethra. There may be a change in the contraction of these drainage ducts due to an increase in the levels of progesterone.

Similarly, the uterus becomes enlarged as your pregnancy progresses, and this growing uterus may start to put more pressure on the ureters. This will again cause problems with proper drainage of the urine. Once your body fails to eliminate urine, it provides bacteria in the bladder a chance to move to the kidneys and cause an infection. It is due to these reasons that pyelonephritis in pregnancy is more common.

What Are the Symptoms of Pyelonephritis?
You usually develop pyelonephritis when the bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) cause an infection, but other bacteria like the Proteus species, Klebsiella penumoniae, and Staphylococcus can also cause kidney infections. When you become infected, you do not usually experience symptoms right away. You experience signs of severe illness when the infection spreads to the kidney. The most common symptoms are fever, back pain, feeling sick, confusion, nausea, and vomiting.

You may also notice changes in the urine when you develop pyelonephritis in pregnancy. For instance, you experience pain when urinating, notice blood in the urine, and have foul-smelling urine. Frequent urination is yet another sign of pyelonephritis.

Complications Associated with Pyelonephritis in Pregnancy
Symptoms may become severe when you do not seek immediate medical treatment. If left untreated, pyelonephritis can lead to other pregnancy related complications. The most common are anemia, respiratory distress, and impaired kidney function. About 20% of cases result in Septic Shock with serious kidney and respiratory malfunction. About 5% of pregnant women with pyelonephritis suffer preterm delivery.

What Is the Treatment for Pyelonephritis in Pregnancy?
As mentioned already, it is important to seek treatment immediately after experiencing symptoms. Talk to your doctor who will consider your signs and symptoms to determine the most appropriate treatment option.

Antibiotic Medicines
The most common treatment option involves giving patients intravenous (IV) antibiotics. You usually need to take these antibiotics until your fever goes away. Fever usually indicates that you still have an active infection. However, some doctors will check your urine and only discharge you if they get a negative urine culture. You still need to complete your antibiotic treatment after you have been discharged from the hospital.

Your doctor will change antibiotics if IV antibiotic treatment does not produce desired results within 48 hours. They will perform another urine test to ensure there are no other types of infections. You may require additional IV antibiotic treatment if your urine culture shows presence of pyelonephritis-causing bacteria.

Drinking Fluids
It is important to drink plenty of water and fluids to stay hydrated. Drinking plenty of water will help increase urinary flow and make it difficult for organisms to multiply in the urine. It is important to keep in mind that drinking too much of water may dilute any antibiotic in the urine. Be sure to talk to your doctor to know how much fluid to drink. You may require intravenous fluids if you vomit a lot.

Future Prenatal Care
Even when you have recovered, it is important to have a urine test done at least once a month to ensure you do not develop pyelonephritis in pregnancyagain. If it reoccurs, you may have to take oral antibiotics for the duration of your pregnancy. Your doctor will select a strong course of antibiotics to treat pyelonephritis if it reoccurs.

How Can You Prevent Pyelonephritis in Pregnancy?
You can take a number of steps to prevent this condition. For instance:

• Increase your fluid intake. Drink several glasses of water daily because it hampers the growth of infection-causing bacteria by improving urinary flow. This flushing also plays a big role in preventing Kidney Stones.


• Whenever using toilet, you should wipe from front to back and not the other way round. This ensures you do not contaminate your urinary tract with intestinal and skin bacteria.


• Be sure to urinate after you have sex with your partner. This helps eliminate bacteria from the bladder. You can even take antibiotics if you often develop infections after sexual activity.

Pyelonephritis

Pyelonephritis






Pyelonephritis is the medical term for kidney infection. Kidney is one of the important organs of the body that performs the function of excretion of waste products. Kidneys do the function of regulating Blood Pressure, restoring the electrolyte balance and also take part in producing red blood cells. The kidneys are connected to the urinary bladder by long tube called ureters.

Generally Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in the lower part involves infection in the bladder and urethra and upper UTI involves kidney infection.

Causes and Risk Factors :

Bacteria can cause urinary tract infection and infection in kidneys. Normally urine becomes sterile when it passes out, but sometimes bacteria may enter into the urinary tract through urethra causing UTI and pyelonephritis. When compared with kidney infection, the UTI infection is less severe because when kidneys are affected it may also cause infection in the bloodstream thus producing serious complication. Similarly bacteria may enter into the vagina or rectum from the urethra causing infection.

Women who are in the premenopausal stage are more prone to develop kidney infection and UTI. Infection may occur from sexual activity, history of urinary tract infection, pregnancy and use of spermicides.

Symptoms :

Some of the signs of kidney infection are nausea, vomiting, pain in the stomach, fever, chills, shivering, pain while passing urine and frequent urge to urinate. Some people may have low back pain when kidney infection starts. For aged persons, symptoms may also include lethargy, poor concentration, reduced blood pressure and rapid heartbeat.

Tests :

Your doctor may look for symptoms like tenderness of flanks and fever. He may also ask you to do urine analysis if he suspects kidney infection.

Treatment :

Like any other type of bacterial infection, pyelonephritis should be treated with antibiotics. Once the doctor diagnoses the presence of particular bacteria from the result of urine analysis, then he would put you on strong antibiotic medicines. In case the bacteria are irresponsive to the drugs, then it is necessary to change the course of antibiotics for destroying the bacteria.

You have to take plenty of water and fluids for treating less severe form of kidney infection. Take cranberry products along with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. In case if the symptoms get severe with vomiting and Constipation, then you need to consult your doctor without any delay.

Pictures of Pyelonephritis :

Images, Pics, Pictures and Photos of Pyelonephritis

Prevention :

You need to follow proper hygiene for preventing any type of urinary tract infection. It is wise to urinate after you had sexual intercourse to get rid of any bacteria. It is necessary for patients who depend on catheters to keep it sterile and change it frequently to avoid infection.

Pyelonephritis – Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

Pyelonephritis – Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

What is Pyelonephritis?

This is a kidney infection that is a definite type of infection of the urinary tract that usually begins in the bladder or urethra and can move up into the kidneys.

Any kidney infection needs rapid attention medically. If a kidney infection is not treated appropriately the kidneys can have permanent damage or the infection can migrate to the blood system and cause an infection that is life-threatening.

Pyelonephritis or any kidney infection treatment normally includes antibiotes and often need hospitalization.

Pyelonephritis Symptoms

Symptoms and signs of an infection of the kidneys can consist of:

• Back, groin or side pain


• Fever


• Frequent urination


• Abdominal pain


• Persistent and strong urge to urinate


• Blood or pus in the urine – Hematuria


• Sensation of burning or pain when urinating

If an individual has any symptoms or signs that worry them they need to make a visit to a physician especially if they are being already in treatment for a UTI or Urinary Tract Infection and the symptoms or signs are not getting better.

Kidney infections that are severe often can turn to life-threatening difficulties. Instant medical attention is needed if the individual is experiencing characteristic kidney infection symptoms especially if combined with nausea, bloody urine and vomiting.

Pyelonephritis Causes

Infections of the kidneys normally occur because bacteria enter the urinary tract thru the urethra and start to multiply. Bacteria from an infection in some other area of the body can spread thru the blood system to the kidneys. Infections of the kidney is not normally because of this route to the kidneys but it often can occur in this method – for instance; when some foreign body, such as an joint that is artificial or heart valve gets infected. Very rarely, infections of the kidneys results after some sort of surgery on the kidneys.

Some factors which can increase the risk of an infection of the kidneys consist of:

Anatomy female
Women normally have the greatest hazard of kidney infections than do males. The women’s urethra is shorter than a man’s, so any infection has less of a space to travel from outside of the body to the bladder. The closeness of the urethra to the vagina as well as anus also can offer more occasions for bacteria to reach the bladder. When inside the bladder, an infection can then migrate easily to the kidneys.

Urinary tract obstruction
Anything which impedes the urine flow or reduces the ability to totally empty the bladder when urinating, for instance Kidney Stones, structural abnormalities in the urinary tract or, for men, enlargement of the prostate gland, can increase the risks of infections to the kidneys..

Debilitated immunization system
Many medical conditions impair the immune system, for instances diabetes, cancer or HIV; increase the risk of infections of the kidneys. Some drugs, such as medications to avert denial of transplanted organs, have a comparable effect.

Nerve damage round the bladder
Spinal or nerve cord damage can block sensations of an infection of the bladder so that the individual is unaware when it is becoming an infection in the kidney.
Urinary catheter use that is prolonged
Urinary catheters or tubes used to channel urine from the bladder. An individual might have a catheter located in the bladder typically during and after some types of surgery or diagnostic tests. Often catheters are under continuous use when an individual is restricted to a bed.

You're reading Pyelonephritis – Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment posted by minhhai2d, the information is for reference only.

Conditions that causes the urine to stream in the opposite way
Small quantity of urine flowing from the bladder back up into the ureters and kidneys – especially in vesicoureteral reflux. Individuals who have this condition can have kidney infections frequently especially as a child and are an even advanced risk of infections during both adulthood and childhood.

When left untreated, an infection of the kidney may lead to serious often life-threatening difficulties, such as:

Kidney damage that is permanent
An infection of the kidney may lead to permanent damage to the kidneys that can cause Kidney Failure that is chronic.

Septicemia or blood poisoning
The kidneys screen waste from the blood and returns the blood to the remainder of the body. If there is an infection of the kidney, the bacteria can migrate as the blood is return to circulation.

Complications of pregnancy
Females who cultivate an infection of the kidney during pregnancy can have an amplified risk of having babies of low birth rate.

Pyelonephritis Diagnosis

The physician may suspect an infection of the kidneys based on symptoms and signs, for instance upper back pain and fever. If the physician suspects a kidney infection, he/she will normally ask for a urine test in order to culture for blood, bacteria or pus in the urine.

Pyelonephritis Treatment

Antibiotics – Antibiotics are the first line of therapy for infections of the kidneys. The drug that is used and for how long normally depends on the health condition as well as the bacteria that is found in the urine tests.

Normally, the symptoms and signs of an infection of the kidneys start to resolve in a few days with treatment. But the individual needs to continue taking the antibiotics for 7 days or even longer. Take the entire course of antibiotic therapy that is advised by the physician in order to confirm that any infection is totally eradicated.

Severe infections of the kidneys and hospitalization
For infections of the kidneys that are severe, the doctor often may admit the individual to the hospital. Therapy while hospitalized can include IV antibiotics. The length of hospital stay normally depends on how severe the condition is.

Recurrent treatment for infections of the kidney
If kidney infections frequently recur or become chronic, the doctor will normally recommend that the individual seek medical advice from a professional who can ID potentially and underlying treatable causes.

Infections of the kidneys that are recurrent can be caused by an underlying problem medically, such as abnormal structures. The physician can refer the individual to a nephrologist or kidney specialist or urinary surgeon known as an urologist for evaluation in determining if urologic irregularities can be causing the infections. Structural abnormalities can be repaired surgically.