A bladder infection is also known as a urinary tract infection, or UTI. A kidney infection is also a UTI, but bladder infections occur more often than kidney infections, and are less dangerous. Kidney infections, if not treated, can eventually lead to kidney damage and even kidney failure, which is a life-threatening medical emergency.

Medical professionals call a bladder infection cystitis. In simple terms, it is an infection inside the bladder.

A bladder infection grows when bacteria finds its way into the urinary tract. Most people think there's already plenty bacteria in the urinary tract, but actually there isn't. It's true that the bladder is like a liquid waste dump for the human body, collecting collecting salts and other fluids - but it's generally free of germs.

When bacteria get into the bladder, they can spread and a bladder infection results.

Approximately 80 percent of bladder infections are caused by Escherichia coli, or E. coli. This bacteria can come from a number of places, but it's typically found in the intestines and on skin surfaces around the rectal areas and around the vaginal areas in women.

When bacteria migrates from the anus, or from an outside source, into the urethra (the narrow canal that urine passes through during urination), they can then enter into the bladder. This process is much more likely to happen in women, so more women have UTIs than men. Some women get repeated infections, and approximately 50 percent women will have at least one urinary tract infection during their lifetime.

Tight fitting clothing can also help force bacteria up the urethra.

Bladder infections are usually easy to diagnose because the symptoms are generally obvious. You feel an urgent need to to urinate, even though very little urine is produced. A burning sensation is also typical while you're urinating (another name for this burning sensation is dysuria).

Someone with a bladder infection also feels an urgency to visit the bathroom often. Cloudy, dark or bloody urine is likely, and it will often be accompanied by an unpleasant foul odor.

There may also be bladder spasms and a slight fever.

Because of the uncomfortable symptoms that accompany a bladder infection (especially the burning sensation), you might be tempted to drink less water or liquid because you don't want to urinate as much. However, doctors recommend against this thinking and say that you should drink more water than usual because it helps flush germs out of your urinary tract. Your doctor may also suggest that you drink certain juices or take vitamin C.

A bladder infection can be decidedly uncomfortable, but it is usually not hard to treat with antibiotics that reduce the symptoms. Often, a bladder infection will go away in a few days whether it's treated or not. Nonetheless, if you have the symptoms mentioned above, you should talk to your doctor because symptoms of a bladder infection are very much like the symptoms of a kidney infection. Once again, a kidney infection is a dangerous medical disorder that can have long range and very negative consequences.