Symptoms and Complications
Common UTI symptoms may include:
- pain or burning during urination
- frequent desire to urinate, often urgently and immediately
- unusual discharge from the urethra
- urine that looks cloudy or smells foul
- pressure in the lower pelvis
- fever, with or without chills
- bedwetting in a person who has normally been dry at night
- nausea and vomiting
Bladder infections (cystitis) often result in urine that's dark and
cloudy. In addition to the above symptoms, bacterial prostatitis (infection
of a man's prostate gland) can also cause fever, chills, low back pain, and
discomfort or pain around the anus or perineal region. In some cases, a kidney
infection (pyelonephritis) can follow a bladder infection by a couple
of days, causing abdominal pain, flank pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills.
In infants or children, UTIs can cause symptoms such as vomiting or fever and
prevent normal weight gain.
Elderly people don't necessarily have symptoms that are common to UTIs. Instead,
they often have gastrointestinal symptoms including changes in eating habits,
or mental signs like confusion. People with catheters or neurologic disorders
might only complain of side pains and a fever.
Sometimes, there are large amounts of bacteria in the urine but no obvious
symptoms of UTIs. This is known as asymptomatic bacteriuria and it's
common in elderly people. Pregnant women and kidney transplant patients may
also develop this type of infection.
Symptomatic abacteriuria is the opposite: people have UTI symptoms,
but bacteria levels in the urine are low. Even with very little bacteria present,
a UTI can still be diagnosed.