Complications

If left untreated, a kidney infection can lead to potentially serious complications, such as:

• Kidney scarring. This can lead to chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure and kidney failure.
• Blood poisoning (septicemia). Your kidneys filter waste from your blood and return your filtered blood to the rest of your body. Having a kidney infection can cause the bacteria to spread through your bloodstream.
• Pregnancy complications. Women who develop a kidney infection during pregnancy may have an increased risk of delivering low birth weight babies.