Urinary tract infection (UTI) remains a common clinical problem in both the community and health care associated settings. One in five women will have a UTI during her lifetime, but even more astonishing is the recurrence rate. As many as 20% of women who have one episode will experience another, and up to 30% of these women will have a third; in the latter group, recurrence rates can approach 80%.1 Thus, management of this common condition can be complicated by high rates of recurrence and by such other factors as ever-changing patterns of resistance to antibiotics and increasing recognition of the need to use antibiotics judiciously.
