Adverse drug reactions during treatment of urinary tract infections.

Adverse reactions reported to the Swedish Adverse Drug Reaction Committée concerning Sulfapral (a sulphonamide combination for urinary tract infections) and nitrofurantoin were remarkably similar. The commonest hypersensitivity reactions were in skin and lung. During the 10-year period 1966-75 reactions to the sulphonamide were fewer (n=327) than those reported for nitrofurantoin (n=781), but the former appeared to carry a higher mortality rate - 4.6% of reported sulphonamide reactions were fatal as compared to only 1.0% for nitrofurantoin (P less than 0.001). The number of reactions to the sulphonamide tended to remain constant, whereas those to nitrofurantoin increased rapidly, both absolutely as well as relative to sales of the drug.