Surprising Causes of Urinary Tract Infections

Looking at lesser-known risks and reasons for getting a UTI

Kristen Fischer,

AARP

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Published November 21, 2025

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When a urinary tract infection (UTI) hits, the first question is often: what’s to blame? The answer: Bacteria. But how that bacteria is introduced to your system can vary.

Sexual contact can be to blame, along with wiping incorrectly after going to the bathroom. However, there are plenty of other causes, and new research suggests that contaminated meat may also play a role.

Scientists already knew that Escherichia coli (E. coli) is responsible for a significant share of UTI cases — about 75 percent — but what was less clear was the origin of the bacteria. However, a recent study published in the journal mBio finds that about 18 percent of E. coli-caused UTIs are likely due to contaminated meat.

“It’s not widely recognized that people can get urinary tract infections from foodborne E. coli,” says Lance B. Price, study author and co-director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

“Most food producers and public health agencies only pay attention to the kind of E. coli strains that cause diarrhea and ignore the rest,” Price adds. “Our study suggests that we should revise this perspective.”

UTIs in Older Adults

According to survey results published this year in Annals of Epidemiology among 1,074 U.S. adults ages 50-plus, 19.8 percent of women and 6.4 percent of men developed a UTI in the previous 12 months.

The study, conducted over four years, finds that 1 in 5 UTIs were caused by E. coli bacteria in chicken, turkey, beef or pork. The strains causing the UTIs, though, aren’t the same strains linked to foodborne illnesses, and though they can cause disruptions in the urinary tract, they don’t cause problems in the gut.

E. coli can travel to the urinary tract after a person eats contaminated meat or handles contaminated products and doesn’t wash their hands before using the bathroom, Price explains. As such, proper handling and hand hygiene are key.

The urinary tract is an entry point for E. coli to enter the bloodstream. If the bacteria reach the blood, it can be fatal, Price says.

“Unfortunately, our risk for bloodstream infections related to UTIs goes way up as we get older. These kinds of infections are major killers of older Americans,” Price adds.

All About UTIs

A UTI can occur in your kidneys, bladder, ureters or urethra and lead to a wide range of symptoms such as burning during urination, pelvic pain or urgency to urinate.

The infections are extremely common, especially in women — about half of all women will develop one at some time throughout their lives. Men can get them, too, just not as often. Approximately 8 to 10 million people in the U.S. are treated for UTIs each year, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Evaluating E. coli

As part of the study, researchers collected 2,349 urine samples that were positive for E. coli, along with 3,379 meat samples sold in grocery stores at the same time that contained E. coli.

Among the types of meat sampled, the highest levels of contamination were found in chicken and turkey.

The researchers observed a health disparity, too. Low-income neighborhoods in Southern California had a 60-percent higher risk of foodborne UTIs than wealthier areas. The authors of the study suggest that this may be the case because grocery stores in low-income areas may not properly store meat or may keep products out for too long.

UTI risks

E. coli isn’t the only type of bacteria that can cause UTIs. About a quarter of UTI cases are from other bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumonia), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (S. saprophyticus), group B Streptococcus (GBS), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), among others.

Beyond eating or handling contaminated meat, these nine factors can also raise your risk for a UTI:

1. Improper hygiene. Although this isn’t as common a cause as others, Dr. Sammy Elsamra, an associate professor of urology and section chief of adult urology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, says, it’s important to wipe from front to back and to always wash your hands after using the bathroom. Bacteria can easily come from stool, the Cleveland Clinic reports.

2. Constipation. Being backed up may increase your risk of developing a UTI, by putting pressure on the bladder. Survey results from 1,074 U.S. adults over the age of 50, published in Annals of Epidemiology, found that 32 percent of people with a UTI reported being constipated sometimes, frequently or always. Those who said they were sometimes constipated were 3.69 times more likely than those who never experienced constipation to have a UTI. Those who were often or always constipated were 5.48 times more likely, the data show.

3. Not getting enough fluids. Not properly hydrating can contribute to the development of an infection. Staying hydrated dilutes the bacteria, so going to the bathroom often gives the bacteria fewer opportunities to grow.

4. Holding it in. If you don’t urinate when your body needs to go, that can make you more likely to develop a UTI since you’re giving the bacteria more time to multiply.

5. Blockages. Elsamra says that as we age, anatomical changes can interfere with normal urine flow or cause urine to remain in the bladder longer than it should, which increases the risk of infection. For example, men with an enlarged prostate may not fully empty their bladders. Women may have a dropped bladder (the medical term is cystocele), which means it doesn’t empty as easily, causing urine to accumulate. Diabetes. People with diabetes are also at higher risk for a UTI. If you have diabetes, it can reduce your immune function to fight off the UTI.

7. Catheter use. Having one of these in place during a hospital stay or from an outpatient procedure can lead to UTIs.

8. Hormonal shifts. Changes in your hormones, whether from menopause or pregnancy, facilitate the spread of bacteria through the ureters and to the kidneys.

9. Sexual intercourse. UTIs after sex can occur because it can move bacteria around and introduce them to your urethra.

UTI treatment and prevention

Drinking plenty of fluids, avoiding holding it when you need to urinate, and going to the bathroom regularly are key to preventing UTIs, Elsamra says.

Antibiotics aren’t the only treatment for UTIs, and people shouldn’t be on them too often to avoid antibiotic resistance, Elsamra says. Cranberry supplements may help, plus there are medications like methenamine hippurate and D-mannose that can stop the bacteria from growing. Probiotics may also help counteract the buildup of bad bacteria, Elsamra adds.

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Kristen Fischer is a contributing writer at AARP based at the Jersey Shore. She has also written for Health, WebMD, and McKnights and is the author of Zoo Zen: A Yoga Story for Kids.