4 UTI's for a 28yr old male is rare, am I wrong? Please help!

[Sally403]

My husband is 28 yrs old and hasn't been able to get adequate medical attention as he's been sent around on different deployments to the Middle East and Asia over the past year. We are finally going to be able to get him into a Urologist now that we've relocated to Japan and are staying here, but the military can't see him for another 3 weeks.
My husband has been diagnosed with 4 urinary tract infections over the past year. 1st one in June 08 in Sasebo Japan, 2nd one in Dec 08 Afghanistan, 3rd one in Feb 09 in Afghanistan and 4th one in May 09 in San Diego.
His symptoms are: slight burning sensation when peeing, involuntary cloudy/yellow discharge or pee dribble into his underwear throughout the day, occasional groin soreness and lower back soreness. Each time he was diagnosed with a UTI they gave him anti-biotics that seemed to temporarily clear up the symptoms until the UTI would return a few months later. We took him to the ER in May one he got back to San Diego and they gave him a big needle shot of anti-biotics for UTI & STDs, etc but his Gonnorhea/Clamydia tests have since come back negative. His Prostate test checked out to be fine.
Next step: see a Urologist. We just moved to Japan from San Diego and that's why it's taking so long. All this transition & then long medical appointment wait times.
We want to be well informed because I don't trust they have been doing all they can to diagnose him properly. We are also trying to have a baby but want to get this figured out before we try.
What are the potential causes of symptoms like this so we can be sure to check off all possibilities with our doctor? Process of elimination is helpful, but we'd like to know what type of disease/bacterial infection menu we are looking at. It's been a year without being properly diagnosed and we're stressed out over it all. 4 UTIs for a 28 yr old male is RARE and misdiagnosed. Any information you have would be most helpful. Thank you!

[Stephen Liroff, MD]

Hi! I have obviously been out of touch with the web site for the last 2 ½ weeks. Sorry if I increased your anxiety. Do not blame Med Help.
You are correct. Urinary tract infections in males are uncommon, especially in your husband’s age group. I would try to get records from his previous physician visits to see if there were any urine cultures performed or urinalyses done. His urine samples should almost always be mid-stream, clean catch samples. If they are not, then the results may not be accurate
Has he had any infections in previous years? In particular, as a child? If he did, then this brings up the possibility that he has an anatomic problem that extends from childhood and the work-up would be different.
What other symptoms did he have? Frequency/urgency to urinate/slow stream/ need to sit to urinate adequate/getting up at night to urinate?  Burning with urination and low back pain without at least some of these other symptoms sheds some doubt that he actually had an infection.
Any history of kidney stones? Is he a smoker? Blood in his urine (obvious or micro scopic). With blood in his urine, he may need a look into his bladder (cystoscopy) and a kidney X-ray (CT urogram, ideally).
Any problem with his bowels? (incontinence of feces, infections in his intestine….diverticulitis)  Leg weakness/numbness? (nerve problem).
Obviously there are many possibilities. He may need an ultrasound of his kidneys and an evaluation of bladder function (urodynamics).

[taatofu2]

Yeah, there might be something else, but a lot of the symptoms sound like kidney stones.  If he gets bad enough pain again and you go to the ER, have them take a CT scan (CAT scan) to check for stones.  From what I've read, it is less common in males to have UTI's, but I know from experience that the a stone blocking the urine flow can cause infection.  And you might want to read up on lithotripsy and stents before you see the urologist.

[Sally403]

Thanks for getting back to me.  The urologist told my husband that he has a bacterial infection in his prostate after looking at the urine lab work. He also told him that the antibiotics or whatever they shot him up with the last time should have killed it, but bacterial infections are difficult to get rid of completely sometimes and that they can do their best and hope that each dose gets rid of it, but that he may have on-going symptoms for the rest of his life, even though they won't really hurt anything.

Is that true? What else can you tell me about Bacterial Infections in the Prostate? Are they common? How do you get them?

My husband does not have any history from his childhood with these kinds of symptoms. As far as other symptoms, my husband has always sat to pee no matter what. At least when he's home anyway. He just prefers it. He hasn't gotten up in the middle of the night. He had a few burning with urination experiences. He drinks, smokes only on occasion and chews tobacco. No blood in his urine, no kidney stones in the past, no bowel problems. No leg numbness.

Thank you!

Sally