NHS surgeon explains why taking antibiotics for urinary infections is not always safe: ‘Not every burning pee is…’

NHS surgeon Dr Rajan warns that not all urinary infections are bacterial and antibiotics may not be necessary.

Whenever you have a urinary infection, doctors generally prescribe antibiotics to treat it. However, consuming antibiotics for every urinary infection might not always be the safest option for your overall health.

Dr Rajan warns that not every burning pee is a bacterial infection. (Freepik)

In an Instagram post shared on November 17, Dr Karan Rajan, an NHS surgeon and a health content creator, warned how antibiotics and urinary tract infections do not go hand in hand, strongly urging both prescribers and patients to ensure a urine culture is performed whenever antibiotics are given for a suspected urinary tract infection (UTI). Here's why:

Antibiotics and urine infections

Dr Rajan emphasised, “If you're ever prescribed antibiotics for a urine infection, make sure your doctor does a urine culture as well. You don't ever need to delay antibiotics and wait for a culture. But we need to appreciate that not every burning pee is a bacterial infection.”

Explaining how other urine infections can also show similar symptoms as a UTI, the NHS surgeon noted, “For example, there's a condition called interstitial cystitis (IC) and it can cause all the same symptoms: Burning, urgency, frequency, pelvic pressure, but there's no infection.”

So, if you take antibiotics to treat IC, you will not cure anything. According to Dr Rajan, you will simply wipe out your gut microbiome and increase your risk of IBS, candida, and C. difficile (Clostridioides difficile) infection.

Furthermore, Dr Rajan highlighted that the wild part with urine infections is that some people end up on antibiotics for months for conditions mentioned above because no one checked properly. “Their UTI wasn't bacterial; it was inflammatory, and antibiotics will not fix that,” he warned.

‘40% positive urinalysis doesn't correlate’

Lastly, the video reveals that basic urine tests (dipsticks or urinalysis) often fail to correlate correctly with true infection shown by a culture.

Dr Rajan shared, “We also know that up to 40 percent of positive urine dipsticks or basic urinalysis don't correlate with infection on a urine culture. And the other way is also true. Some true infections show a negative urine analysis but positive culture, especially in chronic or low-grade cases.”

Therefore, if you skip getting a urine culture, you risk undertreating real infections and overtreating false ones. “Both drive antibiotic resistance through the roof, and you pay for it with very avoidable gut microbiome disturbances,” Dr Rajan warned.

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.

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