The impact of resistance on the management of urinary tract infections

Urinary tract infections requiring treatment are extremely common. It is es timated that between 20 and 50%, of adult women will have had at least one symptomatic urinary tract infection. When considering the optimal therapy o f any infection, patient factors, organism factors, drug factors (e.g. phar macokinetics), side-effects and cost as well as antimicrobial resistance al l need to be considered. This paper deals with the impact of increasing ant ibiotic resistance on the management of urinary tract infections. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. and International Society of Chemotherap y. All rights reserved.