If your doctor tells you that you have acute or chronic pyelonephritis, you may think he or she is talking a bunch of medical jargon. Pyelonephritis, however, is a serious condition. If left untreated, this infection can spread to other parts of the body. By definition, pyelonephritis is an inflammation of the renal pelvis within the kidney.
The renal pelvis is not the kidney’s “groin,” as you may be thinking when seeing this term. This is the collecting point for all toxins filtered out by the kidney, which then funnels them into the ureter, where they head to the bladder. Due to it’s constant exposure to bacteria and waste which has been filtered from the blood, a renal pelvis which has been weakened or injured is prone to bouts of chronic pyelonepritis. When a condition is chronic, it means that it happens over a long duration, often coming and going. An acute case of chronic nephritis is unexpected, and typically has rarely or never happened before.
Wondering what causes this condition is common among patients. Since bacteria is the common cause, what introduces this bacteria into a person’s system? The common theory is that adult patients who get this condition often acquire it through sexual activity. Since sexual activity can bring the urinary tract into close proximity with a number of bacteria, it is the most likely culprit of many cases of urinary tract infections. Other cases are thought to be caused by bacteria in the blood filtered out by the kidneys and ending up in the renal pelvis.
Women seem to get pyelonephritis more than men, but both genders can acquire this condition. The urinary tracts of women have a shorter distance for bacteria to travel in order to infect it from the outside than the urinary tract of a man. This causes women to often have a higher frequency of urinary tract infections, though men do sometimes get such infections.
So, how is pyelonephritis treated? Well, since the majority of incidences of this condition are triggered by bacteria, antibiotics are often prescribed by doctors to help treat the infection. If one antibiotic does not appear to be helping the infection, doctors may switch the patient to a stronger antibiotic. The effectiveness of antibiotics is often related to how many antibiotics the patient has been on in their life. If the bacteria present in their body have already been exposed to a particular antibiotic, they may have grown immune to it over time. This is why doctors never prescribe antibiotics unless it is absolutely necessary. Drug-resistant bacteria are often referred to as “super-bugs,” and they are becoming a large threat in the medical community.
Severe cases of acute pyelonephritis can sometimes cause a patient to need admission to the hospital. These cases can be accompanied by feverish conditions, and the patient may need intravenous antibiotics and close monitoring of their blood tests. The patient may also need intravenous fluids in order to prevent dehydration if they have not consumed enough water while they have had the condition.
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