…urinating after sex won’t prevent infection

A retired Chief Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Dan Onwujekwe, says many women are in the habit of wiping the wrong way after using the toilet, thereby exposing themselves to  the risk of bacteria and urinary tract infections.

According to him, women  must learn to wipe the proper way after using the toilet.

Onwujekwe who disclosed this during an interview, said though some urinary tract infections such as gonorrhea and syphilis are sexually transmitted, many of them are also acquired among women through improper hygiene.

The researcher said, “Many women, after using the toilet, the way they clean up can predispose them to urinary tract infection. They must learn to wipe the proper way.

“Many of them, after emptying their bowels, wipe from the back towards the front and in the process, they may introduce bacteria from the anus into the vagina. From there, the bacteria gets into the lower urinary tract and will ascend from there to the kidney and they will get urinary tract infection.

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“The  proper way to wipe is from the front towards the back, so that bacteria don’t get introduced into the urinary tract through the vagina.”

Onwujekwe  noted that urinary tract infection does not mean that it must be sexually transmitted.“Those of them that are transmitted through sex, such as gonorrhea and syphilis, can be prevented by appropriate and regular use of condoms.