Related video above: Bill Clinton in California hospital with infection

"Wait ... can men really get urinary infections? Is this fake news?"

This was one of the messages I received over the past 24 hours.

Yes, men can get urinary tract infections. Not fake news.

All of this interest was sparked by news this week that President Bill Clinton has been hospitalized for treatment for a urinary tract infection that spread to his bloodstream.

I first heard the news when I was in a room with a new male patient who recently had two back-to-back urinary tract infections. This patient is one of hundreds I may see in a year as a urologist. They're sent to me to help figure out why these infections are occurring and how to prevent the next one.

To quench the curiosity-driven by the recent news, here's what I'd like you to know about UTIs.

1. So what exactly is a UTI?

UTI is short for urinary tract infection. It's an infection of the organs in your body -- I call them pipes -- that are meant to funnel your urine out of your system and into the urinal. Most UTIs are caused by bacteria that work their way into the urethra, prostate, bladder or kidneys.

2. How are UTIs in men different from those in women?

Way more women than men are diagnosed with UTIs. Anatomically, we feel this happens because women have a shorter urethra -- the tube that connects the bladder to the outside world. The shorter length makes it easier for bacteria to travel to the urinary system. Men have longer urethras and therefore can be protected against urinary infections.

But the length of the urethra alone cannot protect men against UTIs -- over their lifetimes, 12% of men will get urinary symptoms linked to a UTI. This by no means implies a urethra or penis are short or small. In men, there is usually a more clear pathologic cause to the infection beyond just the length of the urethra.

3. What puts certain men at a higher risk for UTIs?

There are many reasons why a guy may get a UTI -- all of them we take seriously and should not be ignored.

Men older than 50 tend to get more infections than younger men. As a urologist, I see men get recurrent infections when they do not properly empty their bladder because of an enlarged prostate. Beyond the prostate, men may not empty their bladder if they have nerve damage from stroke, uncontrolled diabetes or injury to the spine. Men can also get infections that start from the prostate or testicles that seed up into the bladder, or the opposite can happen where the infection goes from the bladder to the other organs. Kidney stones can also be a cause of infection. (I know this from personal experience -- I've had a kidney stone myself!)

Younger men may also present with urinary infections because of sexually transmitted diseases. Men can also get an infection if they have a recent procedure done in the urinary system.

4. What are the signs and symptoms of a UTI?

Burning with urination (dysuria), increased urinary frequency, urgency, incontinence, foul smell, blood in the urine, fevers, chills, pain in the abdomen near the bladder. Believe it or not, some men may have zero symptoms and still get diagnosed with a UTI based on urine cultures done for other purposes.

5. How are UTIs diagnosed?

UTI is diagnosed by sending your urine off for a culture. This is when a sample of your urine is processed and evaluated for various strains of bacteria. The most common bacteria identified in urinary tract infections is E.coli. Once the culture is done, the results can guide treatment, which is usually oral antibiotics. There is a test called a urine analysis which can be done quickly in our office which can suggest an infection. However, the best test is an actual culture.

Doctors do not wait for the culture results -- which can take one to three days -- to start treatment. If an infection is suspected, an antibiotic will be started immediately and then adjusted based on the culture results.

6. How is a UTI treated?

UTIs generally are treated with oral or IV antibiotics. Most infections can be treated with oral antibiotics. However there are superbugs that may be resistant to what we can give you by mouth that may require the use of stronger antibiotics through an IV. Most treatments last seven to 10 days, but can be longer.

In severe cases of infection that has spread to the bloodstream, strong IV antibiotics are started immediately to control the infection. Patients are placed in the hospital to start these strong treatments. You do not have to stay in the hospital for weeks if you have infection in your bloodstream. As long as you are doing well -- no fever, normal labs, heart and pulse OK -- then you may continue these IV treatments from home. Each treatment is tailored to your condition.

7. Can UTIs be treated with home remedies?

As a doctor, my answer is: No. Men should not try to treat infections on their own. If you have symptoms, get yourself to a doctor or emergency room.

8. How can UTIs be prevented?

The best prevention is making sure first there is nothing anatomical that needs to be corrected, such as an enlarged prostate, kidney stone or blockage.

Proper hygiene can help prevent infections. Men with uncircumcised penises should make sure they can retract the foreskin and clean under the foreskin and the glans properly. Cranberry supplements have been shown to help prevent infections. Staying hydrated by drinking enough fluids/water during the day can also help. Making sure you don't hold your urine can help, too. Staying in good health to avoid chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease will also protect against infections.

9. My infection is gone. Are there any long-term effects on my body?

Recurrent, untreated infections could cause strictures, or tight scars, in your urethra that would slow your stream and make it difficult to empty your bladder. Infections could also cause the bladder to lose its ability to fill and empty properly. In the long run, if you are getting constantly treated with antibiotics, we may run out of antibiotics to give you due to resistance.

10. After I get treated for my first infection, what's next?

The first priority is to clear the infection with antibiotics.

From there, we do a full workup with a detailed history, evaluation of chronic medical problems and exam of the genitals to look for anatomic issues such as a foreskin that won't retract back. Imaging may include a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis to look for kidney stones, blocked tubes and other abnormalities.

If you see a urologist, you will likely get a cystoscopy, where we place a camera inside of a small tube into the urethra to look at the inside of your urine channel. The cystoscopy helps look for strictures, large obstructing prostates and changes to the bladder walls. Once a cause is found, it's aggressively treated with either medication or surgery.

ORANGE, Calif. —

Bill Clinton will spend one more night at a Southern California hospital where he is recovering from an infection, a spokesman said Saturday.

"President Clinton has continued to make excellent progress over the past 24 hours," spokesman Angel Ureña said in a statement.

Clinton will remain overnight at University of California Irvine Medical Center "to receive IV antibiotics before an expected discharge tomorrow," the statement said.

Hillary Clinton has been with her husband at the hospital southeast of Los Angeles. She returned Saturday with her daughter Chelsea Clinton around 8 a.m. Saturday in an SUV accompanied by secret service agents.

President Joe Biden said Friday night that he had spoken to Bill Clinton and the former president "sends his best."

"He’s doing fine; he really is," Biden said during remarks at the University of Connecticut.

Clinton, 75, was admitted on Tuesday with an infection unrelated to COVID-19, Ureña said.

"He is in great spirits and has been spending time with family, catching up with friends, and watching college football," said Ureña's Saturday statement.

An aide to the former president said Clinton had a urological infection that spread to his bloodstream, but he is on the mend and never went into septic shock, a potentially life-threatening condition.

The aide, who spoke to reporters at the hospital on the condition his name wasn’t used, said Clinton was in an intensive care section of the hospital but wasn't receiving ICU care.

In the years since Clinton left the White House in 2001, the former president has faced health scares. In 2004, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery after experiencing prolonged chest pains and shortness of breath. He returned to the hospital for surgery for a partially collapsed lung in 2005, and in 2010 he had a pair of stents implanted in a coronary artery.

He responded by embracing a largely vegan diet that saw him lose weight and report improved health.

Clinton repeatedly returned to the stump, campaigning for Democratic candidates, most notably Hillary Clinton during her failed 2008 bid for the presidential nomination. And in 2016, as Hillary Clinton sought the White House as the Democratic nominee, her husband — by then a grandfather and nearing 70 — returned to the campaign trail.

___

Kesten reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Stefanie Dazio in Orange, California; Zeke Miller in Hartford, Connecticut; and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed to this report.

Former President Bill Clinton was admitted to the University of California Irvine Medical Center's intensive care unit for a non-COVID-related infection."He was admitted to the ICU for close monitoring and administered IV antibiotics and fluids. He remains at the hospital for continuous monitoring," according to a joint statement Thursday evening from Dr. Alpesh Amin, chair of medicine at UC Irvine Medical Center, and Dr. Lisa Bardack, Clinton's personal primary physician."After two days of treatment, his white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding to antibiotics well," the doctors said, adding, "We hope to have him go home soon."Clinton spokesman Angel Urena said the former president is "on the mend" and "in good spirits.""On Tuesday evening, President Clinton was admitted to UCI Medical Center to receive treatment for a non-COVID-related infection. He is on the mend, in good spirits, and is incredibly thankful to the doctors, nurses, and staff providing him with excellent care," Urena said.

Monica Lewinsky doesn't need an apology from former President Bill Clinton, but she believes he should want to apologize for the affair that led to headlines in tabloids across the world in the '90s.

"There was a long period before my life changed in the last six or seven years where I felt a lot in terms of there not being this resolution. I'm very grateful that I don't have that feeling anymore," Lewinksy said in an interview with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie.

Lewinsky is a producer on the new series "American Crime Story: Impeachment," which is a dramatization of her life when she was entangled with Clinton.

She said she worked with television writer Ryan Murphy to provide "emotional truth" to the story she lived as a 22-year-old in Washington, D.C.

"I think a lot of people know about this story, but people are going to be very surprised when they watch it, at things they didn't know happened," Lewinsky said.

The former White House intern said that, over the last decade, she's been able to regain her voice and claim her story.

In 2015, she gave a TED Talk about cyberbullying and how she lost her reputation without people knowing the truth.

Speaking about cancel culture in today's world, she said she believes her story wouldn't be portrayed completely differently.

"It would be different," she said. "I don't know that it would be as different as people want to think it would be."