Single-dose cephalexin therapy for acute bacterial urinary tract infections and acute urethral syndrome with bladder bacteriuria

Abstract

The efficacy of single-dose therapy with 3 g of cephalexin was evaluated in 129 women with symptoms of acute uncomplicated lower urinary tract infections. Of 91 patients with significant bacteriuria, 61 (67%) were cured of their original infection; this was similar to the 54 to 79% cure rates reported in unselected populations of women of a wide age range treated for acute uncomplicated urinary tract infections with a single dose of amoxicillin or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (J. Rosenstock, L. P. Smith, M. Gurney, K. Lee, W. G. Weinberg, J. N. Longfield, W. B. Tauber, and W. W. Karney, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 27:652-654, 1985; N. E. Tolkoff-Rubin, M. E. Wilson, P. Zuromskis, I. Jacoby, A. R. Martin, and R. H. Rubin, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 25:626-629, 1984). The cure rates of (87%) for our younger patients, those less than 25 years of age, was better than that (46%) for our patients over 40 years of age (P less than 0.001). Patients with infections that were negative in an antibody-coated bacteria test were cured at a significantly higher rate than those with infections that were positive in an antibody-coated bacteria test (71 versus 19%; P = 0.003). Those patients with infections caused by cephalexin-susceptible organisms were cured at a rate similar to that for patients with infections caused by cephalexin-resistant organisms (68 versus 50%; P = 0.62). The cure rate for suburban patients was 90%, versus 45% for inner-city patients (P = 0.008). Of the 28 women with acute urethral syndrome due to low-level bacteriuria, 27 were cured.