Staying Healthy
Can we prevent urinary tract infections?
These are the steps to take when you're trying to ward off UTIs.
If you haven't experienced a urinary tract infection (UTI) before, take note: while the infections are uncommon in older men, they can be common in older women, occurring in 10% of women ages 65 or older, and in 30% of women ages 85 or older. For up to a third of women who have a UTI, the infection comes back within six months.
E. coli bacteria [which live in the intestines] causes most recurrent UTIs and continue generating microbe strains that are resistant to antibiotics. The ability of the bacteria to stick to the urinary tract can sometimes make them very difficult to eliminate..
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About the Author
Heidi Godman, Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter
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