How contagious is it for my baby if I as a mother have a urinary tract infection?
Pregnant women with a urinary tract infection should always be treated, even if there are no or hardly any symptoms. This is to avoid infection of the unborn child.Mothers who have a urinary tract infection and have already given birth to their child do not have to expect their child to be infected by them or by others. The urinary tract infection is generally caused by intestinal bacteria that have been carried over and only very rarely directly via the contaminated urine of an infected person.
- You can find more on this topic in our article: Cystitis in pregnancy.
- You can find more on this topic in our article: Urinary tract infection in children – How dangerous is it?
How long is a urinary tract infection contagious?
A urinary tract infection is contagious for about as long as symptoms persist. However, since the urinary tract infection is one of the very mild or even noncontagious diseases, there is no need to fear transmission of the infection to friends or family.
How long is the incubation period?
It is not known exactly how long the incubation period between the bacterial infection and the outbreak of the disease is. However, it is assumed that a few hours are needed before the first symptoms can appear and is crucially dependent on the sex and the immune system of the patient
What can I do for prevention?
In order to prevent a urinary tract infection, care should be taken to drink a lot throughout the day. Two to three liters of water are desirable, since any ascending germs will be continuously diluted and rinsed out. This type of prevention is so crucial that it is even recommended as a therapy for mild, uncomplicated urinary tract infections.
Furthermore, urinating immediately after sexual intercourse can flush out any germs in the urethra that may have been carried over. If recurring infections occur nevertheless, the doctor can give a vaccination against the most common pathogens, namely different E. coli strains, or administer a long-term preventive antibiotic.
