Kidney Infection Treatment
A kidney infection (known as pyelonephritis) develops when bacteria from your bladder — or, far less often, your blood — enter one or both kidneys and multiply rapidly, evading your immune system’s defenses.
Antibiotics are used to treat kidney infections. These drugs may be taken by mouth or by intravenous (IV) infusion in your arm.
If your kidney infection is causing severe illness, you may be hospitalized for a few days to ensure that your infection is brought under control. After this, you may continue treatment at home with oral antibiotics or sometimes with IV antibiotics.
If imaging tests show that a structural abnormality in your urinary tract is potentially responsible for your infection, correcting the problem through surgery or other treatments may help ensure that your infection doesn’t return.
After your kidney infection has been treated, your doctor may order follow-up tests to make sure that the treatment was successful. If harmful bacteria are still present, you’ll need to take another round of antibiotics. (1,2)
Antibiotics are the main treatment for a kidney infection, and are usually the only treatment that’s needed.
If your doctor strongly suspects that you have a kidney infection based on your symptoms, you may be immediately prescribed an antibiotic that targets the most common bacteria that cause kidney infections.
Once your lab test results come back (which typically takes two to three days), your doctor may adjust your prescription based on the exact type (strain) of bacteria causing your infection. These antibiotics may be taken by mouth or IV. (1)
Usually, your symptoms will start to get better within a few days of starting on antibiotics. But even if you feel better, it’s important to take the full course of antibiotics you’ve been prescribed. (2)
Depending on the specific drug you take, your course of antibiotics will typically last for 5 to 14 days. Taking the full course ensures that all bacteria causing your infection are eliminated. (3,4)
Antibiotics used to treat kidney infections include:
Ciprofloxacin is typically taken once or twice a day, depending on whether it’s the regular or extended-release version, for seven days.
Levofloxacin is typically taken once a day for five days.
Sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim are typically taken twice a day for 14 days.
Your doctor will decide which drug to prescribe based on a number of factors, including:
If your kidney infection is causing nausea and vomiting, your doctor may start you on an initial dose of your treatment by IV, then transition you to taking oral antibiotics. That’s because your body may not absorb the drug well in your intestine if you’ve been vomiting. (4)
In some people, especially men, kidney infections are slow to respond to antibiotics. If your symptoms don’t go away as a result of your treatment, or if follow-up tests show that bacteria are still present, you may need to take antibiotics for as long as six weeks. (3)
If your kidney infection is deemed severe, or if the infection has spread to your blood or caused other complications, you’ll need to be hospitalized for a few days to control your infection.
You may be a candidate for hospitalization if:
In the hospital, you’ll be given antibiotics by IV, along with fluids if you’re at risk for dehydration.
Antibiotics may be given by IV at the hospital every 6 to 24 hours, and include:
Exactly how long you stay in the hospital will depend on how severe your condition is and how quickly you recover. (2)
Once you leave the hospital, you’ll probably still need to take a course of oral antibiotics. The options for this course are the same as for people who don’t require hospitalization. (4)
If your infection has spread to your blood — known as sepsis — then you’ll need to undergo intensive treatment in the hospital for your blood infection.
Treatment options for sepsis include:
In some cases of kidney disease, your imaging scans will reveal that you have a structural abnormality in your urinary tract that makes you more susceptible to infection.
In a study of 1,325 people admitted to the hospital for severe and complicated kidney disease, researchers found that 71 percent had urinary tract abnormalities. (7)
If you have an underlying problem, like a misshapen urinary tract, once your infection has been treated, you’ll be referred to a nephrologist (kidney specialist) or urologist to be evaluated.
If the specialist believes that your abnormality leaves you at a significantly increased risk for infections, you may be a candidate for surgery to repair the abnormality. (2)
©2025 sitename.com All rights reserved