According to the Cleveland Clinic,Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common bacterial infection in humans.1 They account for more 8.6 million physician visits (84% by women) and over 1 million hospital admissions in the United States each year.2–4 Acute uncomplicated cystitis remains one of the most common indications for prescribing antimicrobials to otherwise healthy community-dwelling women5 and up to 50% of all women experience one episode by 32 years of age.6 (http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/infectious-disease/urinary-tract-infection/)
How did women avoid dying in huge numbers from this hellish infection? Why isn't there literature all over the place about women in fetal positions crying for pain relief? I'm not being funny. Was there something they knew that we didn't?
Uncomplicated cystitis is painful and incredibly inconvenient, but in a healthy woman the body's immune system can effectively clear it without antibiotics within 3-10 days. Although many choose to go to the doctors to get a prescription, it isn't strictly necessary for the majority of women, and the pain and symptoms can be managed to a degree. So although it is bad, assuming someone doesn't have any complications there is no reason it would kill someone.
For men on the other hand, a UTI is considered much more of an issue, as it is harder for them to contract one in the first place (women's urethras are really short compared to men, so it isn't a hard journey for bacteria to get into the bladder), and from the statistics I imagine men would account for far more of the hospitalisations than women.