Urinary Tract Infection

Urinary Tract Infection - Treatment

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Antibiotics for Catheter-Induced Infections. Patients using catheters who develop UTIs with symptoms should be treated for each episode with antibiotics and the catheter should be removed, if possible, or changed. A major problem in treating catheter-related UTIs is that the organisms involved are constantly changing. Because there are likely to be multiple species of bacteria, doctors generally recommend an antibiotic that is effective against a wide variety of microorganisms.

Although high bacteria counts in the urine (bacteriuria) occur in most catheterized patients, administering antibiotics to prevent a UTI is rarely recommended. Many catheterized patients do not develop symptomatic urinary tract infections even with high bacteria counts. If bacteriuria occurs without symptoms, antibiotic therapy has little benefit if the catheter is to remain in place for a long period.

Catheterization is accomplished by inserting a catheter (a hollow tube, often with an inflatable balloon tip) into the urinary bladder. This procedure is performed for urinary obstruction, following surgical procedures to the urethra, in unconscious patients (due to surgical anesthesia or coma), or for any other problem in which the bladder needs to be kept empty (decompressed) and urinary flow assured. Catheterization in males is slightly more difficult and uncomfortable than in females because of the longer urethra.

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Review Date: 06/17/2010
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.