Urinary tract infections in a child are a very common cause of hospitalization, and in this questionable championship, only ARVI is inferior.
What exactly is the cause of infections? How are they diagnosed in newborns? Is it possible to prevent their occurrence? Today’s article will be devoted to this.
What is the urinary system
Before we talk about diseases, let's remember which organs belong to the urinary system of a person.
- Let's start with the kidneys - the paired organ responsible for filtering urine.
- The ureters move away from it - the tubes through which the filtered urine moves into the bladder (organ for the accumulation of this fluid).
- The urethra is a tube through which urine goes outside.
Normally, all these structures can not be a mediumfor reproduction of microorganisms, as they are sterile. But if bacteria get in from the outside against a background of weakened immunity, a person may develop diseases - urinary tract infections.
A child, like an adult, to such pathologiesinclude cystitis, pyelonephritis, urethritis, etc. But with children, the risk that the inflammatory process becomes chronic is much higher. This is all the more dangerous because of the frequent absence of obvious clinical manifestations of the disease.
Urinary tract infection: the causes of its occurrence in a child
As the main cause of a large number of these diseases, the features of the structure and functioning of the urogenital system in children are highlighted.
For example, in babies under three years of ageimmaturity of the renal tissue and weak in comparison with adults immunity, almost no isolated infectious manifestations of the same urethritis or cystitis. Urinary tract infections in a child spread to the entire system, affecting both the renal pelvis and urethra, and the bladder.
The pathology itself is most often caused byE. coli, which, being natural in the flora of the large intestine, becomes a source of inflammation, getting into the kidneys, but can be excited by staphylococci, streptococci, or other types of bacteria.
Worm invasions that reduce the immune background of the child, frequent constipation, dysbacteriosis, and the presence of chronic inflammation on the skin or other foci of infection are also of considerable danger.
Infection of the urinary tract in infants: how it manifests itself
As you already understood, in order to preventUTI, it is important to first follow the rules of hygiene. Thus, in newborn girls, the wide urinary canal closely adjacent to the anus is easily infected, so correct (without soap) and regular washing-up plays an important role in preserving the health of the future woman.
But if the infection did occur, then the following symptoms may signal this:
- baby cries when trying to pee;
- the urine of the baby smells bad;
- blood streaks appear in it or it becomes turbid;
- baby loses appetite;
- the temperature rises;
- vomiting occurs.
Каждый из этих симптомов требует обращения к pediatrician and thorough examination of the newborn. Untreated urinary tract infections in a child often lead to serious pathologies of the kidneys and other organs in older age.
Be healthy!
