Associated symptoms
The urinary tract infection in children is typically accompanied by a so-called dysuria. This causes a burning sensation and pain when urinating. In addition, the urinary tract infection can cause changes in the urine stream.
This can lead to an increase or decrease in the urine stream during urination. A change in the colour of the urine can also be an indication of the urinary tract infection in the child. In addition, the urine may foam unusually in the toilet.
In children who can already control their urination, urinary retention can also occur. Because of the pain when urinating, children refuse to go to the toilet, so that the urine accumulates in the bladder. This can lead to uncontrolled and unwanted urine loss.
Children who are not yet able to express themselves clearly are often particularly weepy and flabby when they suffer from a urinary tract infection. In children, a urinary tract infection can also be accompanied by fever. If there is also an inflammation of the bladder, pain in the lower abdomen (in the area of the bladder) may also occur.
In addition, the infection can travel up from the bladder to the kidneys. This manifests itself as flank pain (on the side of the back), which can occur on one or both sides. The children are very flabby and weepy, they have no appetite and drink very little despite the fever.
Fever is a very unspecific symptom especially in children. Thus, fever can occur with every infection, as the increased temperature is a very good measure for the body to fight pathogens. In urinary tract infections, too, fever serves primarily to weaken the bacteria that cause the infection. If the children have a fever, they are also very tired, limp and cry a lot, they have little appetite and do not drink much. Often they do not feel like playing and prefer to lie down and sleep.
Pain
Pain can occur in different places depending on the severity of the urinary tract infection. At the beginning, the pain is mainly felt when urinating. If the urinary tract infection moves further up to the bladder, the pain can also appear in the lower abdomen (where the bladder is located). If the urinary tract infection is complicated and the kidneys are also affected, flank pain may also occur. These are located at the lower end of the costal arch, at the side of the back.
How contagious is a urinary tract infection in a child?
The urinary tract infection in children is normally not contagious. To be infected, the bacteria from the child’s urinary tract would have to pass to other people, and the person would have to ingest the bacteria through the mouth, for example. Because most urinary tract infections are caused by normal intestinal bacteria, many people cannot be infected separately – they already have the bacteria in their own intestinal tract.
