[Single-dose versus 5-day cotrimoxazole therapy in acute symptomatic urinary tract infections in the female. A prospective randomized study].

In a prospective trial, 67 women (outpatients and inpatients) with acute symptomatic infection of the lower urinary tract were randomly selected to receive either a single dose of oral co-trimoxazole or conventional five-day therapy with the same drug. Diagnostic and bacteriological problems were investigated. Both regimens showed similar effectiveness with 91% (five-day therapy) and 100% (single-dose therapy) clinical and bacteriological cure. There were no co-trimoxazole-resistant species in vitro and no therapy side effects. As in other studies, we found that in more than one-third of the cases enterococcus was the responsible bacteria for the infection. This is an important finding because of its resistance to cephalosporins.