jguru wrote:Is your cousin male or female? How old?
@Behemoth, I asked this not out of jest, but because it is important.
UTIs present differently in men than in women. The female urethra is only 4cm while the male one is 20cm. Age is also an important risk factor.
I'm assuming your cousin is a man. Adult.
-Has he ever been catheterised? A rubber pipe passed through to help in voiding urine?
-Is he of an age where the prostate could be enlarged? >50yrs.
-Kidney stones? Trauma between the legs? STIs?
The major cause of recurrent or complicate UTIs in adult men is obstruction. Either a stricture, a large prostrate, or as seen from your imaging tests, vesicoureteric reflux due to obstruction at the point where the ureter enters the bladder.
Surgery is warranted for these conditions. The urologist/urosurgeon (+ nephrologist, +radiologist) will make this decision after ultrasound and/or cystoscopy and deteriorating renal function.
Make haste. His kidneys are at risk.
Set out to correct the world's wrongs and you will most certainly wind up adding to them.