Why You Get UTIs After Sex — and How To Prevent Them

Getting a urinary tract infection after sex is, unfortunately, a common occurrence. Some urinary tract infections (UTIs) are painless, but that’s not typical, and they’re usually not fun. (If you know, you know.)

Urologist Sandip Vasavada, MD, explains why UTIs happen after sex, who gets them the most and how to prevent them.

How do you get UTIs?

UTIs, sometimes called bladder infections, happen when bacteria get into your bladder. Your bladder is like a little holding tank for urine, and bacteria can attach to the bladder wall. They enter through the opening of your urethra, the tube that moves urine out of your body.

“If the bacteria don’t clear from the bladder, they settle in and multiply, and an infection happens,” Dr. Vasavada explains.

Who gets UTIs?

Anatomy affects your risk of UTIs. Dr. Vasavada says that people with vaginas are the most likely to get UTIs because of their shorter urethra.

“The female urethra is only 3 to 4 centimeters long, so the bacteria only have to travel a short distance from the opening into the bladder,” he continues.

This explains why people with penises get fewer UTIs: The longer urethra keeps bacteria out of the bladder more effectively.

“Although if you have prostatitis (prostate inflammation), that can also lead to UTIs,” he notes.

There are a few groups that appear to experience the most UTIs:

• People with vaginas who are sexually active
• People in their postmenopause years
• People who were born with a condition affecting the urinary tract

What are UTI symptoms?

If you’ve had multiple UTIs, you’re probably familiar with the telltale signs.

“The hallmark symptoms of UTIs are dysuria (burning) with urination, along with increased urgency and frequency of urination,” shares Dr. Vasavada. “If you have urgency and frequency without the burning, it’s typically not a UTI.”

Less common symptoms include urine that’s:

• Bloody
• Cloudy
• Discolored
• Foul-smelling

“Lower-urinary tract infections don’t tend to progress to a more serious infection, but they may make you miserable,” he says.

But a UTI can progress by moving up the urinary system into your kidneys. With this unlikely but more severe infection, you also may have:

• Fever and chills
• Nausea
• Vomiting

Can you get a UTI from sex?

You can certainly develop a UTI without any sexual activity, but post-sex UTIs are common. That’s because you have lots of bacteria on the outside of your genitals. Sexual activity moves the bacteria around, and they can end up at the opening of your urethra, causing an infection.

Can you get a UTI from oral sex?

Yes, you can get a UTI from oral sex. During oral sex, mouth and genital bacteria can get into your urethra and lead to a UTI. Essentially, any type of sexual activity can cause a UTI: Activity around your genitals moves bacteria to your urethra, where it can travel to your bladder.

Difference between a UTI and an STI

It may seem like your partner is giving you a UTI during sex. But that’s not entirely accurate. A UTI isn’t a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

• STI: This happens when your partner passes an infectious bacteria, fungus, parasite or virus to you through sexual contact.
• UTI: While this is bacteria, it’s not transmitted from your partner to you during sex. A UTI happens because of existing bacteria on your genitals that make their way into your bladder.

Can you have sex with a UTI?

“You can still have sex with a UTI, but most people are pretty miserable when they have one, so sex may be the last thing on their mind,” says Dr. Vasavada.

When you’re trying to clear the infection, frequent urgency to pee could also put a damper on intimacy. Sex typically won’t affect the course of the infection while you’re treating it.

But if you haven’t gotten treatment for the UTI yet, having sex could make it worse.

How to prevent a UTI after sex

Try these simple steps to avoid a post-sex UTI:

• Stay well hydrated.
• Pee after sex to flush out bacteria.
• Try cranberry or D-mannose supplements. Note that a sugary cranberry juice cocktail won’t help, though.

During postmenopausal years, you’re at higher risk for UTIs. If menopause is behind you, and you’re sexually active, UTIs may be frequent visitors. But there’s help.

“Vaginal hormone therapy is very safe and effective for reducing UTIs after menopause,” says Dr. Vasavada.

Some people become very prone to UTIs after sex. For recurring UTIs, your provider may give you a preventive antibiotic to have on hand and take within 12 hours of sexual activity.

How do you stop a UTI after sex?

Even when you do your best to prevent a post-sex UTI, sometimes, they happen anyway. What do you do next?

“Your body may be able to rid itself of the UTI with a lot of water and some ibuprofen for the pain,” says Dr. Vasavada. “You don’t have to get treated, but not doing so may prolong the agony.”

Antibiotics are the gold standard for UTI treatment. Typically, it’s a short course of just three days of pills.

“We try to use the more benign antibiotics instead of the strongest ones to minimize the risk of antibiotic resistance, where the antibiotic no longer works,” he explains.

Once your UTI is gone, it’s important to get back to prevention practices to avoid getting another one.

If you know the misery of repeated UTIs, there’s a small ray of hope in the form of a potential vaccine.

“These are available in some European countries, and they’re going through the approval process in other countries,” shares Dr. Vasavada. “The vaccine targets the most common bacteria in UTIs. The results so far are pretty good, but there are still questions to answer about safety.”