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juju2744 juju2744
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12 years ago
Imagine you contracted a urinary tract infection and did not treat it.  Imagine you contracted a urinary tract infection and did not treat it.  Trace the pathway of the bacteria as it moves up the urinary system.  What structures in the kidneys would you expect to be damaged by the bacteria?
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12 years ago
"In general, the farther the organ in the urinary tract from the place where the bacteria enter, the less likely the organ is to be infected.

Urethritis is infection/inflammation of the urethra. This can be due to other things besides the organisms usually involved in UTI's; in particular, many sexually-transmitted diseases (STD's) appear initially as urethritis. However, stool-related bacteria (the most common bacteria on the skin near the meatus) will also often cause urethritis.

Cystitis is an infection of the bladder. (Strictly speaking, "-itis" means inflammation, and there are non-bacterial reasons for bladder inflammation, but they are much less common than bacterial infection.) This is the most common form of UTI; it can be aggravated if the bladder does not empty completely when you urinate. (Some people have valves at the bladder end of the urethra as well as at the bladder ends of the ureters. You aren't supposed to have urethral valves except for the sphincter; these "extra" valves usually prevent complete bladder emptying and make cystitis more likely.)
Ureteritis is infection of a ureter. This can occur if the bacteria entered the urinary tract from above, or if the ureter-to-bladder valves don't work properly and allow urine to "reflux" from the bladder into the ureters.

Pyelonephritis is an infection of the kidney itself. This can happen with infection from above, or if reflux into the ureters is so bad that infected urine refluxes all the way to the kidney."

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12 years ago
urethra, bladder, ureters, kidneys
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