Kidney infections often cause severe pain along the urinary tract, and several symptoms may accompany a urinary tract infection (UTI), bladder infection, or kidney infection. Life-threatening complications may result from a kidney infection, and it's essential to seek immediate medical attention if you suspect this deadly condition. Additionally, returning to your doctor is important if you seek treatment for a kidney infection but notice your symptoms aren't going away despite taking medication. When you seek timely medical attention, you reduce the likelihood of complications from a kidney infection. However, waiting to see if the infection subsides may result in hospitalization, as well as several days of antibiotic treatments.Everyone is susceptible to urinary tract infections, and there are a few ways you may develop a kidney infection. Bacteria may enter your body via the tube that carries urine from your body, and that bacteria may grow and eventually reach your kidneys. Most kidney infections begin in this way. Another way that a kidney infection may develop is through the transport of bacteria somewhere else in the body that uses the bloodstream to reach the kidneys. If you have a heart valve or artificial joint, you may develop an infection at that site that could result in bacteria that travels through your body to the kidneys.
