UTI are rising fast and the cause could be in your refrigerator urinary tract infections or UTI are on the rise and they may be becoming more dangerous the overall disease burden associated with UTI has increased by more than 68% between 1990 and 2019 at the same time the bacteria that cause UTI have developed resistance to Common drugs usually UTI are thought of as more of a painful nuisance rather than dangerous or fatal but for an elderly patient or someone with multiple medical conditions the antibiotics that fight the infection can be essential failing to get these antibiotics contributes to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people every year globally even when they aren't deadly the more than 400 million annual worldwide UTI cases significantly strain limited medical resources we know UTI are a tremendous cause of morbidity and even mortality but they are also a huge burden on the US Healthcare System contributing to well over $2 billion annually in health care costs says Michelle Van kiken a urologist and a Euro gynecologist at the University of California San Francisco what are UTI and how dangerous are they UTI can start in any part of the urinary system and can affect the kidneys bloodstream and uterus but they most commonly infect the bladder with symptoms of urinary frequency urgency to urinate sometimes despite having an empty bladder and burning during urination says Craig ker a urologist at Stanford University cramping fever malador and blood in the urine can also be signs of a bladder infection UTI occur when bacteria enter the urethra and infect the urinary tract something that can occur during sexual activity because of a genetic predisposition or due to poor hygiene practices such as not wiping properly UTI are the most common infection treated outside of hospitals in the United United States affecting some 50 to 60% of women during their lifetime roughly a quarter of women also report repeat infections within 6 months while UTI can happen to anyone they are about 30 times more common in women because females have shorter urethras that are closer in proximity to the anus a common source of bacteria broken down the groups at most risk for infections are sexually active women elderly women and immunosuppressed men and women says committer when UTI only affect the bladder they aren't considered dangerous and usually resolve without treatment though antibiotics are frequently prescribed to speed the healing process up from weeks to days when these infections spread to the kidneys bloodstream or to different areas of the reproductive system however they can lead to serious complications such as blood poisoning sepsis kidney damage or kidney failure when left untreated a very small percentage of these cases can even be life-threatening explains Jacob Lazarus an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a bacterial cell biologist at Harvard Medical School why are the number of UTI increasing the increasing number of UTI cases are due to several factors one of which is a burgeoning population as the population increases we expect more UTI and more of the disease burden associated with UTI because there are more people says Lazarus on top of that some of the conditions associated with UTI such as kidney stones and type 2 diabetes are also on the rise and a high number of teens and adults are sexually active in otherwise healthy women sexual activity is the number one contributor to developing a UTI says van kiken the global population is also getting older because UTI are more common in seniors their prevalence is increasing as the population ages says Ker