Antibiotics for Bladder Infections

A bladder infection or urinary tract infection can be a recurrent problem and often is the result of a bacterial infection. A bladder infection affects the various body organs involved in the production, storage or expelling of urine. Doctors prescribe several different types of antibiotics to treat a urinary tract infection (UTI).

Background

• A UTI can begin by bacteria entering the kidneys from the bloodstream, or by bacteria entering the urethra (the hole from which urine exits) and traveling upward toward the bladder or other urinary organs. The infection usually occurs in the urethra, the bladder, the ureter (the muscles that force urine out of the body) or the kidney.

Symptoms

• Depending on the location of the UTI, you may feel burning when you begin to urinate. This is urethritis and affects the urethra. You may also experience burning during the "middle" of urination, which indicates an infection in the bladder. Such an infection also has symptoms of fever, lower abdominal (just above the pubic bone) pain or cloudy urine. If you have a kidney infection, there may be blood in the urine and you may experience pain in your lower back.

Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole

• Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is a synthetic antibiotic that blocks a crucial part of the bacteria's system for making new DNA. Bacteria are made up of one DNA strand and they multiply by replicating the DNA strand. In turn, the infection worsens. This drug is sulfa-based and should not be taken if you have sulfa drug allergies. Side effects are loss of appetite, nausea, skin rash and possibly vomiting.

Nitrofurantoin

• Nitrofurantoin is a synthetic antibiotic that is excreted in the urine and concentrates in the bladder. It functions by preventing bacteria from using energy, which the bacteria accomplish by processing nutrients like sugar. The drug also blocks other chemical reactions that occur in the bacteria. Side effects include upset stomach or, rarely, improperly functioning nerves.

Others

• Quinolones disrupts an enzyme called DNA gyrase that bacteria use to duplicate itself. It causes the DNA to become so twisted that it cannot replicate. The benefit of this drug is that it has a lower likelihood of bacterial resistance that occurs with drugs that only affect the bacteria's digesting nutrients.

  Polymyxin B is an antibacterial derived form another bacteria. It damages the cell wall and kills bacteria.

  Tertracycline blocks the protein functioning of bacteria, preventing bacteria from creating protein. This drug is nor prescribed for children because it affects bone development.