UTI is INFECTIOUS!!
Today, the topic of interest relates to Urinary Tract Infection. "Why?" One would a
sk. My uncle had a UTI and was admitted to the hospital, for fear of cancer. While it is safer to rule out cancer first, the specialist had forgotten to take a full history from my uncle as he was in severe pain. It started off with hematuria (blood in the urine) and acute loin pain which radiates to the front. He tried to relieve the pain by acupunture (since he's an acupuncturist) but to no avail and the pain was so great that he had to punch his fist to the wall until it was bleeding.
These classic symptoms of either an UTI or renal stones could not be missed, but it'll require further diagnostic tests to confirm the diagnosis. Below is his condition:
Signs and Symptoms:
Urine culture: Pending
CT Scan: No signs of renal stones nor tumor
While one may wonder, how does this relate to the topic above, the reason is, the wife(my aunt) has UTI 2 weeks ago!! She claimed to have recover from it 1 week ago, and how could have the doctor missed that!! The specialist should have remembered in his/her studies (maybe he/she had forgotten) that UTI is uncommon in males (Females have a 14X more chance of getting it though) and the first thing that comes in mind to a 40+ years old male patient is about sexual intercourse and medical history of his partner!! I'd advised my aunt to tell the specialist of the condition she had so narrow down the search of the culprit bacteria, which was no other than the common E.Coli which contributes to 90% of UTI cases (According to Wikipedia). Perhaps the specialist had overlooked it, so it is forgiveable.
Now, now, the main problem here has always been miscommunication. Otherwise, there wouldn't be PPD (Personal and Professional Development) to train us medical students in communication skills. When my aunt had UTI 2 weeks ago, she asked the doctor whether UTI is infectious. Of course, UTI can't be transmitted air-borne, food-borne nor contact, but that does not deem you to tell a 35 year old female that UTI is not infectious and not worry about it! So, there goes the trigger of what would be the suffering of her husband 2 weeks later.
Poor Uncle...
So, the next time when you are a doctor in the future, do not go telling your patients who had UTI that it is not infectious!! Sexual Intercourse could be a possible risk of transmission for UTI afterall!!
(Note: Sex is not proven to transmit UTI from female to male currently, although there are findings of UTI in male homosexual partners more often. The author is trying to spread his wild ideas around, so reader's discretion is advised.)
sk. My uncle had a UTI and was admitted to the hospital, for fear of cancer. While it is safer to rule out cancer first, the specialist had forgotten to take a full history from my uncle as he was in severe pain. It started off with hematuria (blood in the urine) and acute loin pain which radiates to the front. He tried to relieve the pain by acupunture (since he's an acupuncturist) but to no avail and the pain was so great that he had to punch his fist to the wall until it was bleeding.These classic symptoms of either an UTI or renal stones could not be missed, but it'll require further diagnostic tests to confirm the diagnosis. Below is his condition:
Signs and Symptoms:
- Dysuria (Difficulty/Pain in urinating)
- Urinary Urgency
- Dribbling of urine
- Low back pain
- Hematuria
- Fever and chills
Urine culture: Pending
CT Scan: No signs of renal stones nor tumor
While one may wonder, how does this relate to the topic above, the reason is, the wife(my aunt) has UTI 2 weeks ago!! She claimed to have recover from it 1 week ago, and how could have the doctor missed that!! The specialist should have remembered in his/her studies (maybe he/she had forgotten) that UTI is uncommon in males (Females have a 14X more chance of getting it though) and the first thing that comes in mind to a 40+ years old male patient is about sexual intercourse and medical history of his partner!! I'd advised my aunt to tell the specialist of the condition she had so narrow down the search of the culprit bacteria, which was no other than the common E.Coli which contributes to 90% of UTI cases (According to Wikipedia). Perhaps the specialist had overlooked it, so it is forgiveable.
Now, now, the main problem here has always been miscommunication. Otherwise, there wouldn't be PPD (Personal and Professional Development) to train us medical students in communication skills. When my aunt had UTI 2 weeks ago, she asked the doctor whether UTI is infectious. Of course, UTI can't be transmitted air-borne, food-borne nor contact, but that does not deem you to tell a 35 year old female that UTI is not infectious and not worry about it! So, there goes the trigger of what would be the suffering of her husband 2 weeks later.
Poor Uncle...
So, the next time when you are a doctor in the future, do not go telling your patients who had UTI that it is not infectious!! Sexual Intercourse could be a possible risk of transmission for UTI afterall!!
(Note: Sex is not proven to transmit UTI from female to male currently, although there are findings of UTI in male homosexual partners more often. The author is trying to spread his wild ideas around, so reader's discretion is advised.)
2 referrals:
Whoa, I'll keep that in mind in the future. Thanx dude..
UTI can prevent, may ask your aunt to keep drink cranberry juice for daily where cranberry prevent bacteria from staying in body.
useful tips i get from fb/cranberrymalaysia. you may ask your aunt to know more about UTI and prevention.
btw, i would like to share your article to my fb to avoid other case happen again.
thank you.
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