Urine infection common in children, here’s why

Casting my mind back to the time when I was working at one of the health facilities in Dar es Salaam in 2016, I used to come across young patients who complained of pain during urination including the urgency to go to the toilet every now and then. In fact, it seemed like they already knew what they were suffering from - you’ll hear a child telling a doctor, “Mama amenituma kupima UTI [urinary tract infection].” Meaning, I’ve been asked by my mother to come and test for UTI.
UTI is an infection in any part of urinary system [the structures that allow passage of urine].
It involves kidneys, ureters (narrow tubes about 10 inches long, draining urine from each kidney into the bladder), bladder and urethra (small tube draining urine out of the body).
Any section of the urinary system can be affected. You must know this, the more farther up the infection is found, the more serious it is.

Why women and children are most vulnerable to UTI?
From my experience of working in some hospitals and health centers in Tanzania, many UTI patients are women followed by children and very few men especially more often than not those beyond the age of 50 are being diagnosed with UTI.
It’s said that UTI might be the second after respiratory infections as the most common type of infection preying upon children. It’s a daily and most common diagnosis in a lot of heath centers in Tanzania.
Women are at the greatest risk of suffering from UTI owing to the nature of their body structure, that is, their short urethra and its proximity to anus.
Doctors do say that urine is normally sterile, do you agree?
It’s not a flippant assertion. Yes it is. An infection occurs when bacteria get into the urine and start to grow, so the infection starts at the urethra’s opening and then it goes upward into the urinary tract.
So you might hear questions from parents such as, “sasa mbona huyu mtoto wangu anapata UTI mara kwa mara, kwanini? Nifanyeje?” Meaning, why does my child get UTI frequently ? What should I do ?
You know children have trouble with ablution, I mean they don’t wipe their genitals properly and wash their hands after a toilet visit, so there is issue of poor hygiene inextricably linked to increased frequency of UTI. Moreover, there are bacteria found in bowel with which poor hygiene you may transfer them to urinary tract through the opening of the urethra and ultimately you may get UTI. Doctors refer them to ‘E. coli’.

Who is at risk?
People with conditions that block urine passage, example, prostate cancer (tezi dume) or kidney stones, incomplete emptying of the bladder, postmenopausal women, people who are sexually active- sexual intercourse can bring forth a big number of bacteria into the bladder, using catheter is also a risk factor to get UTI, and decreased immunity into the bargain.

What are the symptoms?
The most common symptom in Tanzania for a patient with UTI is abdominal pain or painful urination, but sometimes the symptom may be vague and nonspecific.
For example, children may come to a doctor with fever, chills or vomiting.

How is UTI diagnosed?
Diagnosis in most health centers is made through a test called urinalysis. One of the challenges is that in many health centers, gonorrhoea and UTI are barely distinguished, maybe sparingly due to the fact that the symptoms may be similar. Urinalysis results may not distinguish because relevant tests like urine culture and staining are not routinely available.
Doctors will prescribe antibiotics to treat UTI, but there are reports of resistance to many antibiotics.

Takeaway tips
• Urinating after intercourse may reduce the probability of developing UTI.
• It is said that breastfeeding may decrease the risk of developing UTI in children.
UTI can take a toll on your body. Note signs and report to a doctor immediately.