Why does my 5-year-old son get repetitive urinary tract infection (UTI)?

Q: My five years old son is suffering from repetitive urinary tract infections. The urine test shows the presence of pus cells and some unwanted growths. Though we take care of his hygiene and make sure that he drinks a plenty of water, he gets UTI every four months. He has the habit of bed wetting also. What else should we do?

A:Repeated urinary tract infections in a child need further evaluation. Anatomical causes like narrowing of the passage or reflux, foreign bodies like stones, and physiological causes like malfunction of the bladder may form the background for repeated infections. Your urologist physician would like to examine the child, and do further investigations to exclude all such causes systematically. The child needs to be put on constant low dose antibiotic prophylaxis while being evaluated till, and the basic cause has been corrected.