3mo ago hospitalized for broken pelvis, catheter caused uti. then rehab for a month, another uti. two more. all 4 treated. first ones in my life. why?

UTIs: Not unusual to start having utis after catheter use and instrumentation. The pelvic injury set you up for problems. It is important to discuss preventive measures with your primary care doctor and your urologist, to stop these infections from recurring.

Many reasons: Having had a catheter as well as being in a hospital and rehab setting all put you at greater risk for uti. Pelvic trauma put you at risk for having had an injury to the urinary tract (especially the bladder and urethra). It is important to know if you still have a catheter as a result of this type of injury as this will impact on the management.

Catheter UTI ?stone: Shame you neede prolonged catheterization because everyone will get UTI with indwelling catheter after 1-2 weeks in spite of antibiotics.Prolonged bed rest and immobilization -> calcium loss from bones which in turn can -> bladder stones. Stones containing bacteria lead to recurrent utis, meds can't kill them + have to be removed. Plain pelvic x-ray can demonstrate stoes. Please see a urologist.

Maybe UTI, maybe not: Normally, the human urinary system is designed to 1) flow one way (i.e. Out) and 2) completely empty the bladder. The catheter can cause a "back wash" of urine (with bacteria) into the bladder. Now, if the diagnosis is based solely on WBC in the urine, then it may not be a UTI but rather, a pyuria due to irritation of the bladder by the balloon that keeps the catheter in place.