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What Causes Painful Urination When Diagnosed With UTI?

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Posted on Sat, 22 Apr 2017
Question: (1) It is unusual for an elderly male who has been in a hospital for a month to have a UTI for a week or more without having the usual symptoms of a UTI (e.g. painful sensation when urinating, increased urge to urinate or fever)? (2) Can BOTH a blood culture and a urine M/C/S indentify a pathogen that has entered the BLOODSTREAM?
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Answered by Dr. Michelle Gibson James (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
only the blood culture would check the blood stream

Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic

(1)asymptomatic (no symptoms present) bacteriuria can occur, this means the presence of a large number of bacteria in the urine with no symptoms present.

Since fever is part of the body's immune response then, if the immune system is impaired (not working as it should), then an infection can be present with no fever but the other symptoms- pain on urination and frequency, can still occur.

The immune response is normally reduced as we get older so this may be reason for no fever but one or more of the other symptoms (along with change in color or odour of the urine), should still be present

(2)Urine culture only looks at bacteria or other pathogens from the urinary tract, it only examines the urine so it cannot determine if it has entered the blood stream.

The blood culture which takes a look at the blood only, can determine if a particular pathogen has entered the blood stream.

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Michelle Gibson James

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2001

Answered : 16808 Questions

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What Causes Painful Urination When Diagnosed With UTI?

Brief Answer: only the blood culture would check the blood stream Detailed Answer: HI, thanks for using healthcare magic (1)asymptomatic (no symptoms present) bacteriuria can occur, this means the presence of a large number of bacteria in the urine with no symptoms present. Since fever is part of the body's immune response then, if the immune system is impaired (not working as it should), then an infection can be present with no fever but the other symptoms- pain on urination and frequency, can still occur. The immune response is normally reduced as we get older so this may be reason for no fever but one or more of the other symptoms (along with change in color or odour of the urine), should still be present (2)Urine culture only looks at bacteria or other pathogens from the urinary tract, it only examines the urine so it cannot determine if it has entered the blood stream. The blood culture which takes a look at the blood only, can determine if a particular pathogen has entered the blood stream. I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions