Antibiotic ointment in the management of recurrent, community-acquired bacterial cystitis in women: Observational study

Abstract

Acute bacterial cystitis is the most common form of community-acquired urinary tract infections in women. Uri-nary tract infections are the second most common reason for antibiotic prescription in the USA. There is a need for alternative treatments that would help to avoid the use of systematic antimicrobials thus reducing the incidence of microbial resistance and side effects of the drugs. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of antibiotic ointment treatment in recurrent UTIs in women. We followed up 34 non-pregnant women with a previous history of recurrent UTIs who were instructed to apply antibiotic ointment Bacitracin/Neomycin, locally, on the external urethral meathus area, once a day, for 30 days. 88% of patients responded to the treatment, with no further recurrences in 67.6% of cases and there was a reduced (< 3 cases per year) recurrence in 20.5% of patients. Bacitracin/Neomycin ointment could be a safe, cheap and successful tool for recurrent UTIs in women. To our best knowledge, this is the first published pilot-study of topical antibiotic ointment usage in management and prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections. We need a double blinded, randomized study with a larger number of patients in order to collect more evidence to support this conclusion.