# Is urine sterile? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293 "2000-11-01T21:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/1 "2000-11-01T21:18:13Z")
Sounds like a crock to me. But I have heard more than one person say something to this extent. It’s full of ammonia, right? And ammonia is used for cleaning, so is that where the assumption is based? Or does it contain germ-killing agents? Something about cleaning a wound by peeing on it seems unwholesome, but I believe that peeing on someone stung by a jellyfish will lessen the pain by neutralizing the acid. In that case, it should work on bee stings as well (but not wasp stings). ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/2 "2000-11-01T21:26:36Z")
From Cecil’s column [Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_220.html) > [@](#): > > Urine itself is actually fairly sterile. ---
**Author:** ![False\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee7513/32.png) [@False\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/False_God)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/3 "2000-11-01T21:30:47Z")
Technically, the one of the main components of urine is urea, which decomposes to ammonia. If the individual does not have any kind of urinary tract infection, then, yes, the urine is sterile as it leaves the body. Just think about if it weren’t sterile-you’d get massive infections from just having a bladder. Distilled urine is the safest thing to drink when in a survival situation, and yes, jellyfish stings can be relieved by it. Also, look here: [http://www.barefooters.org/faq/14.html](http://www.barefooters.org/faq/14.html) and here: > **[Urine Therapy](https://biomedx.com/edu/urine-therapy/)** > > Urine for a surprise Dorothy, and no we’re not in Kansas anymore. Urine therapy can be a very effective healing modality. Sometimes when all else fails, urine therapy will turn a person around. We w for probably more information on piss than anyone ever wanted to know. ---
**Author:** ![festiva76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@festiva76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/festiva76)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/4 "2000-11-01T21:34:47Z")
Provided there is no bladder or urinary tract infection, urine in the bladder is generally considered sterile. It is supposedly drinkable in extreme cases, and I have even heard of certain cultures who have used urine for would cleansing. Personally, I would rather flush it down the commode than on any woul of mine, and golden showers are not my thing either, but hey, to each his own. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/5 "2000-11-01T21:42:43Z")
When your blood (which is sterile if you are healthy) passes through your kidneys (which are sterile if you are healthy), certain components of blood (mostly water) pass from the blood into the urinary system (which is sterile if you are healthy). Thus urine can be thought of as blood that has passed through a very special kind of filter and should be sterile if you are healthy. The fact that most of what makes up urine is “waste” (at least from the standpoint of your body) has nothing to do with its sterility. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/6 "2000-11-01T22:25:28Z")
I’ve got an old US Army field book that mentions using urine to clean wounds in an emergency. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/7 "2000-11-01T22:37:11Z")
It’s important to remember to “flush out the plumbing” with a few hundred millilitres before using urine to wash wounds etc. The tap is after all open to contamination from the air etc. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/8 "2000-11-02T00:33:51Z")
Urine is slightly antiseptic. This is why people with urinary tract infections feel like they need to pee all the time, regardless of how much fluid is in their bladder – their body is trying to kill the infection with urine. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/9 "2000-11-02T01:03:52Z")
I can answer this as a student of microbiology. We just covered urinary tract infections recently. Urine in the body is normally sterile, barring infection (obviously). _However_, there are bacteria that live in the last inch or so of your urethra. Therefore, when you pee, the urine exiting your body is **not** sterile. It has bacteria in it. If you want a totally sterile urine sample, well, that’s impossible. If you want a nearly sterile urine sample, there are two techniques recommended for medical purposes. First, collect a sample midstream. Most of the bacteria get flushed out early on. Secondly, you can stick a needle through the pelvic area into the bladder and suck out some urine. My textbook says this is “generally well-tolerated.” My professor says it hurts like hell. I tend to believe my professor. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/10 "2000-11-02T04:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Secondly, you can stick a needle through the pelvic area into the bladder and suck out some urine. My textbook says this is “generally well-tolerated.” My professor says it hurts like hell. I tend to believe my professor. The two are not exclusionary. I had a tooth removed yesterday, which involved a lot of sharp pointy objects WAAAY too close to my face. I held still and didn’t cuss out the dentist. He apparently regarded this as “well-tolerated”, when in fact I didn’t see much of a choice in my behavior. Just because I don’t bitch doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. Sorry if this doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m on Vicodin right now… ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/11 "2000-11-02T06:40:32Z")
At least some viruses can be found in urine. I was looking through some of my old notes tonight and happened to come across the fact that cytomegalovirus (a herpes virus) can be found in the urine. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-urine-sterile/39293/12 "2000-11-02T15:45:34Z")
Urine can also contain blood, so blood type viruses are another risk. I think you can consider your own urine sterile enough for yourself.