Comparative efficacy of 3-day and 7-day chemotherapy with twice-daily pivmecillinam in urinary tract infections seen in general practice.

In a multi-centre general practice study, 183 females suffering from symptoms of acute urinary tract infection were randomly assigned to receive 400 mg pivmecillinam twice-daily for either 3 or 7 days. The clinical response was equally good in both treatment groups with a mean reduction in symptom scores of 88%. Positive pre-treatment bacteriological cultures were obtained from 48 (36%) of the 134 patients for whom data were complete. Bacteriological cure was achieved in all these patients except for 1 in the 3-day treatment group. Pivmecillinam was well tolerated, with side-effects reported by 7 (7%) patients in the 3-day group and 12 (13%) patients in the 7-day group. One patient in the 3-day group and 2 patients in the 7-day group stopped treatment prematurely due to side-effects.