What is the reason for a burning sensation at the urethra?

Due to its location, the urethra is prone to accumulate many germs. If it is not cleaned in time, it can easily cause infectious diseases. If you feel a burning sensation at the urethral opening, it may be a urinary tract infection or an inflammatory disease. It is important to make a prompt diagnosis.

Symptoms of a Urinary Tract Infection

1. Cystitis:

This is commonly referred to as a lower urinary tract infection. The main manifestation of cystitis in adult women is urinary tract irritation, i.e. frequent urination, urgency, pain, leukocytosis, occasional hematuria, even macroscopic hematuria, and discomfort in the bladder area. Generally there are no obvious systemic infection symptoms, but a few patients may have low back pain, low fever (generally not exceeding 38°C), and the white blood cell count is often not increased. About 30% of cystitis is self-limiting and can heal itself within 7 to 10 days.

2. Acute pyelonephritis:

The manifestations include the following two groups of symptoms: ① Urinary system symptoms: including bladder irritation signs such as frequent urination, urgency, and pain when urinating, as well as low back pain and/or lower abdominal pain. ②Symptoms of systemic infection: such as chills, fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, etc., often accompanied by increased white blood cell count and increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate. There is generally no hypertension or azotemia.

3. Chronic pyelonephritis:

The course of chronic pyelonephritis is very insidious. Clinical manifestations are divided into the following three categories: ① Urinary tract infection manifestations: Only a small number of patients may have intermittent symptomatic pyelonephritis, but the more common manifestations are intermittent asymptomatic bacteriuria, and (or) intermittent lower urinary tract infection symptoms such as urgency and frequency of urination, waist and abdominal discomfort and (or) intermittent low fever. ②Symptoms of chronic interstitial nephritis, such as hypertension, polyuria, increased nocturia, and easy dehydration. ③Related manifestations of chronic kidney disease.