Effect of single-dose prophylactic co-trimoxazole on the incidence of gynaecological postoperative urinary tract infection.

One hundred patients having abdominal hysterectomy for benign conditions were randomized into two groups; 50 received co-trimoxazole by intramuscular injection immediately before operation and a control group of 50 were given no antibacterial cover. Single-dose chemoprophylaxis with co-trimoxazole was effective in reducing the incidence of postoperative urinary tract infection from 35% in the control group to 4% in the treated group.