A kidney infection can start off similar to a UTI, but then it gets more severe. Kidney infection symptoms include fever, pain in your back or side, and weakness. Other infections, like sexually transmitted infections, can feel similar to a UTI — but the treatments are different.
Kidney disease may be misdiagnosed to due missing symptoms, attributing symptoms to a different illness and ignoring a change in age.
The most prominent symptoms of kidney stones are severe abdominal or lower back pain. When patients visit the emergency room or their primary care doctor to discuss these symptoms, they can be mistaken as either appendicitis or general lower back pain.
A health care professional may use imaging tests, such as a computed tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or ultrasound, to help diagnose a kidney infection. A technician performs these tests in an outpatient center or a hospital. A technician may perform an ultrasound in a doctor's office as well.
Some kidney infections can develop without a bladder infection and are due to a problem within the kidney itself. As an example, people with kidney stones or an abnormality of the kidney are more susceptible to kidney infections.
To check for a kidney infection, you may be asked to provide a urine sample to test for bacteria, blood or pus in your urine. Your health care provider might also take a blood sample for a culture. A culture is a lab test that checks for bacteria or other organisms in your blood.
pain and discomfort in your side, lower back or around your genitals. high temperature (it may reach 39.5C or 103.1F) shivering or chills. feeling very weak or tired.
A burning feeling or pain when urinating. Having to urinate often. A strong, lasting urge to urinate. Back, side or groin pain.
First-line therapy
First-line empiric fluoroquinolone therapy is with one of the following: Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) 500 mg PO q12h for 7d. Ciprofloxacin extended-release (Cipro XR, Proquin XR) 1000 mg PO q24h for 7d. Levofloxacin (Levaquin) 750 mg PO q24h for 5d.
Because your kidneys remove waste, toxins, and extra fluid from the blood, a doctor will also use a blood test to check your kidney function. The blood tests will show how well your kidneys are doing their job and how quickly the waste is being removed. Here are a few blood tests that are used: Serum creatinine.
Back problems usually affect your lower back. Kidney pain is felt higher and deeper in your body than back pain. You may feel it in the upper half of your back, not the lower part. Unlike back discomfort, it's felt on one or both sides, usually under your rib cage.
Time. The timeline is another way to distinguish back pain from kidney pain. Back pain can come and go and can be triggered by certain movements like bending over or sitting up. Pain associated with the kidneys on the other hand generally remains dull and stable and is usually not changed with movement.
Kidney stones can be tricky, since they may have many of the same symptoms as a UTI or a kidney infection – pain when urinating, needing to urinate often, and cloudy or strong smelling urine, blood in the urine, fever, nausea or vomiting.
Your doctor can determine if you have a UTI or a kidney infection by reviewing your symptoms, analyzing a urine sample, and ordering certain blood tests. They may also order imaging studies or other tests to monitor your kidney function. UTIs and kidney infections are treated with antibiotics.
Causes of Nephritis
While nephritis may be related to an infection, it more often results from an autoimmune condition such as lupus, which causes the body's immune system to inadvertently attack the kidneys and other organs and tissues throughout the body.
If treated promptly, a kidney infection shouldn't cause serious harm. If you experience a fever over 101°F, pain, are unable to drink or take oral medication along with some of the other symptoms, get to the nearest urgent care or ER.
If your kidney infection is severe, you may need to go to the hospital. Treatment might include antibiotics and fluids through a vein in your arm. How long you'll stay in the hospital depends on how severe your infection is.
You should contact your GP if your kidney infection symptoms get worse or don't start to get better within 48 hours (two days) of starting the antibiotic.
In comparison, kidney pain is typically located higher on your back and it often feels deeper. Most of the time, kidney pain symptoms occur under your ribs, to the right or left of your spine. Kidney pain may also radiate to other areas, such as your abdomen or groin.
Most people who are diagnosed and treated promptly with antibiotics feel completely better after about 2 weeks. People who are older or have underlying conditions may take longer to recover. If your symptoms show no sign of improvement 24 hours after treatment starts, contact a GP for advice.
Some people develop a chronic infection of the kidney that is very stubborn and hard to get rid of. A continuing problem with a kidney infection is called chronic pyelonephritis.
When kidneys are failing, the increased concentration and accumulation of substances in urine lead to a darker color which may be brown, red or purple. The color change is due to abnormal protein or sugar, high levels of red and white blood cells, and high numbers of tube-shaped particles called cellular casts.