A 39-year-old woman suffered a UTI from hell, with the infection leading to septic discitis, a paraspinal abscess and septic pulmonary emboli, US doctors report.

While rare, the complication serves as a reminder to keep a “low threshold” to perform an MRI when patients complaining of severe low back pain have an active or recently treated UTI, they say.

The woman, who lived in a group home and had a history of bipolar affective disorder, presented to the East Carolina University hospital in Greenville, North Carolina, with decreased physical activity and worsening anhedonia.

Initially, she was admitted to the behavioural health unit with a provisional diagnosis of an acute depressive episode.