The Urology Center Glossary terms

Urinary Tract Infection:

The term urinary tract infection (UTI) generally means a bacterial invasion of a particular part of the urinary tract or even the entire urinary tract. Bladder infection obviously means an infection isolated to a particular part of the urinary tract, the bladder.

The urinary tract includes the kidneys, ureters (the tubes between the kidneys and the bladder), bladder, urethra (the tube between the bladder and the outside) and, in men, the prostate. The term UTI implies an infection of some or every portion of this body system. When specific parts of the urinary tract become inflamed (but not necessarily infected) particular medical names are assigned:

kidney inflammation -- pyelonephritis

bladder inflammation -- cystitis

prostate inflammation -- prostatitis

urethra inflammation -- urethritis

(See related glossary terms: "urine analysis", "culture", "inflammation", "bladder infection", "infection", "cystitis", "kidney infection", "prostatitis", "reflux").