Why do I regularly get UTIs?

I often suffer from urinary tract infections but since my husband refuses treatment, he keeps on re-infecting me. What can I do to get rid of this problem once and for all? Doleca

Dear Doleca,
A urinary tract Infection (UTI) is one involving any part of the urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra) and bacteria from the anus called E.Coli are commonly involved. A UTI, therefore, is not considered a sexually transmitted condition that requires your husband to be treated in order to avoid getting recurrent infections.
Women are more vulnerable to UTIs because they have a shorter urethra than men, a urethral opening closer to the anus, and because of pregnancy and menopause.

You could be getting recurrent infections just because you are a woman and you do not carry out preventive measures such as taking enough fluids so that you pass urine often to flush out germs before they cause infections. Also, holding urine, using toilet paper from back to front instead of front to back and not passing urine within 30 minutes after sex, could be issues which you need to address.

UTI relapses are also common when one does not get adequate treatment with many of the drugs on the Ugandan market being either fake or substandard.
Older men, because of prostate enlargement at the time also commonly get urinary tract infections.

Recurrent UTI may require to grow the germs in the urine and subject them to various anti-germ drugs with the most effective being used to treat the UTI in what is called urine culture and sensitivity apart from carrying out preventive measures.

Short term use of a drug against inflammation together with an appropriate antibiotic makes sure that inflammation associated with UTI does not risk recurrent infections.