What Causes a Urinary Tract Infection?

 

What causes a urinary tract infections?

Normal urine is sterile and contains fluids, salts, and waste products. It is free of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. An infection occurs when microorganisms, usually bacteria from the digestive tract, cling to and begin to multiply at the opening of the urethra — the hollow tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body.

Most infections arise from Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria, which normally live in the colon.

 

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