Frequent Urinary Tract Infections are common in the spinal cord injury population with an average incidence of 2-3 episodes per patient per year.   Urinary tract infections are the most common cause of sepsis within this patient population group. In addition a high mortality rate is seen of approximately 15%.

Treatment of UTI
Antibiotic treatment is not recommended for asymptomatic urinary tract infections. The urine of spinal cord injury patients will typically test positive secondary to “colonized” bacteria. Likewise prophylactic treatment of urine is not generally recommended. The danger of creating resistant bacteria usually outweighs any advantage to the overuse of antibiotics in this group of patients. Individuals who present with recurrent urinary tract infections, however, may benefit from prophylactic antibiotic use and should be referred to a knowledgeable urologist for further testing and evaluation.

Symptomatic Urinary Tract infections should be treated based on culture results. Treatable symptoms include:

• Fever and chills
• Autonomic dysreflexia
• Increased spasticity
• Signs of pyelonephritis such as flank pain
• Bloody Urine
• Malaise or flu like symptoms