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When chemical engineering professor Terri Camesano was in college, she lived the life of an ambitious young scientist. "That period was characterized by stress," she says, and often, she was too busy to drink enough fluids. The result: repeated urinary tract infections.
Urinary tract infections, or UTIs, are marked by frequent urination, pain, and burning -- and are much more common in women than men. Some women, such as Camesano, get recurrent ones, meaning three or more per year. To complicate matters, rising rates of antibiotic resistance are making some urinary tract infections tougher to treat, putting women at risk of repeated bouts.
Yet, with lifestyle and diet changes -- and in some instances medication -- women can take steps to help reduce their risks of urinary tract infections.
Urinary Tract Infections: Causes
Most urinary tract infections occur when bacteria enter the urinary tract and start to multiply in the bladder. Women may be more prone to UTIs than men because their urethras are closer to the anus, the source of UTI-causing bacteria.
Many women find that sexual intercourse triggers an infection though researchers aren't sure why. Studies suggest that women who use a diaphragm are more likely to develop a urinary tract infectionurinary tract infection, while other research shows that women whose partners use a condom with spermicidal foam also have overgrowth of bacteria within the vagina, perhaps making them more prone to infections.
Whatever the cause of urinary tract infections, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are raising many women's risks of repeated infection.