Kidney damage can be prevented

Kidney damage in children below five years of age caused by urinary tract infections can be reduced significantly if doctors and nurses catch it early, researchers noted last week.

Scientists at Universities of Bristol, Southampton, Cardiff and Kings College London observed that whereas urinary tract infections (UTI) in young children are notoriously difficult to diagnose because symptoms often are vague and unclear, a symptom-based technique would improve its diagnosis and thus prompt treatment.

In the study involving more than 7,000 children, the researchers developed a technique to help doctors and nurses decide from which children a urine sample should be collected, reducing the amount of time and effort used to collect unnecessary urine samples.

"Doctors and nurses should look out for children who experience pain when passing urine, have smelly urine, had a previous UTI or had severe illness," the study said. Surprisingly, fever was not a useful indicator for identifying children with UTI."

The three-year study should improve testing time for infections, which is normally done through a routine but troublesome test because collecting urine samples in children under five years can be difficult.