Kidney Infection
What is it?
Kidney infections are a type of urinary tract infection (UTI). A kidney infection can start in the tube that transports urine from the body (urethra) or within the bladder. One or both kidneys can be affected by the infection. Pyelonephritis is another name for kidney infection.
What are the symptoms?
Fever
Chills
The sensation of burning when urinating
Having to urinate often
Needing to pass urine urgently and often
Back, side, or groin pain
Nausea and vomiting
Visible blood in the urine
Bad-smelling or cloudy urine
Diagnosis
Assessing signs and symptoms and collecting a mid-steam urine (MSU) sample is recommended best practice to identify a kidney infection. The Doctor may also order blood tests for a suspected kidney infection.
A urine sample, clean catch, MSU or catheter specimen, should be collected in the most sterile way possible
The sample should be immediately sent to the pathology lab for microbiological testing or refrigerated, as bacteria grows rapidly when an urine is left at room temperature, which may change the results
Contact the Doctor to review the lab results as soon as possible
See Handling Laboratory Specimens for more information