General Medicine
Fever in Adults: What It Means and When to Worry
Most fevers settle within three days. In Pakistan a fever that lasts longer needs testing for dengue, typhoid or malaria — and a few need help the same hour.
27 Aug 20269 min read
UTI
Pronounced yoo-tee-EYE
Also known as Urinary tract infection, Cystitis, Bladder infection
A urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection anywhere from the bladder to the kidneys. A bladder infection is uncomfortable but usually straightforward; a kidney infection is a much more serious illness.
Most urinary infections begin with bacteria from the bowel — usually E. coli — reaching the urethra and ascending into the bladder. This is far more common in women, because the urethra is short and the distance is small. Confined to the bladder it causes burning on passing urine, a constant urge, frequent small volumes, and cloudy or strong-smelling urine.
When it reaches the kidney
If infection ascends further it becomes pyelonephritis, and the illness changes character: fever and shaking chills, pain in the flank or back rather than low down, nausea and vomiting, and a person who is clearly unwell rather than merely uncomfortable. This needs prompt medical assessment — it is a common route into .
Diagnosis is by symptoms supported by , with a culture where the picture is unclear, recurrent, or fails to respond. Because repeated antibiotic courses drive , a culture identifying the organism and its sensitivities is particularly valuable in anyone getting frequent infections.
Where this comes up
Medicines & Safety
Antibiotics: When You Need Them, and How Resistance Happens
They do nothing for colds, flu, dengue or most coughs. What antibiotics really treat, why buying them without a prescription is dangerous, and what resistance has already cost Pakistan.
26 Aug 202611 min read
Women's Health
Pregnancy: The First Trimester
Weeks one to thirteen: what is normal, what is not, the folic acid and tests that matter, and the signs that mean going to hospital rather than waiting.
14 Aug 202613 min read
Nephrology & Urology
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
Burning, urgency and going every few minutes. What settles with a short course, what needs a urine culture, and why the pharmacy antibiotic often fails.
5 Aug 202610 min read
Related terms
- UrinalysisUrine test, Urine R/EUrinalysis is examination of the urine — by dipstick, under a microscope, or by culture. It is a quick, cheap test that reports on the kidneys, the urinary tract and sometimes on conditions well beyond them.
- BacteriaBacterium, GermsBacteria are single-celled living organisms, most of them harmless or useful, a minority of which cause infection. Unlike viruses they can be killed by antibiotics, which is the whole reason the distinction matters at the point of treatment.
- RenalKidney, NephricRenal simply means relating to the kidneys. It appears throughout medical language — renal function, renal failure, renal stones — where the everyday word would be kidney.
- SepsisBlood poisoning, SepticaemiaSepsis is the body's response to an infection turning against its own organs, and it is a medical emergency. It can develop from any infection and worsens by the hour without treatment.
- Antibiotic resistanceAntimicrobial resistance, AMRAntibiotic resistance is what happens when bacteria change so that a medicine that used to kill them no longer does. It is driven by antibiotics being taken when they are not needed, in the wrong dose, or for too short a time, and it makes ordinary infections harder and costlier to treat.
- ScreeningScreening testScreening is testing people who feel well, to find a condition earlier than symptoms would. It is only worth doing when finding the condition early genuinely changes what happens next.