Urinary tract infection in children: preventing the havoc in India
Urinary tract infection (UTI) remains one of the most common causes of febrile illness in paediatric practice ranking next to gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections as the third most common bacterial infection in children in the developing countries. According to World Health Organization (WHO) in developed countries, UTI is diagnosed in 1% of boys and 3-8% of girls. In the first year of life, UTI is more prevalent in boys with rates of 2.7% compared with 0.7% in girls. Most infection in boys occur in the first 3 months of life but by school age, the rate has decreased in boys and increased in girls. Several studies have been conducted to determine UTI prevalence in developing countries and have shown a higher UTI prevalence of 8-35% in malnourished children with the risk of bacteriuria increasing significantly with the severity of malnutrition.