Urinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections in women and present, most frequently, as acute uncomplicated infections. In non-pregnant women there is limited morbidity. The syndrome of acute uncomplicated urinary infection is usually diagnosed on a clinical basis, although a urine culture growing ≥102 colony forming units/ml uropathogens is now accepted for microbiologic diagnosis. This has been more clearly defined in the revised Infectious Diseases Society of America/Food and Drug Administration guidelines. Optimal duration of treatment for acute uncomplicated urinary infection with quinolone antimicrobials appears to be 3 days. Single-dose therapy with quinolone antimicrobials has an unacceptable failure rate for Staphylococcus saprophyticus infection. Postmenopausal women do not respond as well to therapy of any duration as premenopausal women and the optimal duration of therapy is uncertain.