URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS AND SEXUAL ACTIVITY

Report #6545 7/8/95

First-time urinary tract infections in young women often follow sexual relations with a new partner, even if they use condoms.

A study in the medical journal, Epidemiology, shows that a single sexual act with a condom increases a female college student's chances of getting a urinary tract infection by more than 40% /and having a sexual partner for less than one year more than doubls a woman's chances of getting a urinary tract infection,/ presumably because sporadic partners often spread sexually-transmitted diseases. This study confirms many others that show that urinary tract infections in women are associated with sexual intercourse and that condoms reduce a woman's chances of getting a urinary tract infection, but do not prevent them.

If you are a woman who suddenly develops burning on urination, frequency, having to get up in the middle of the night and terrible discomfort when your bladder is full, check with your doctor. You could have a bladder or a vaginal infections. If you have a bladder infection, a single dose of 500 mg of the antibiotic, ciprofloxacins offers a 90% cure rate (2) and a seven day course of 500mg a day will cure 98%. (3) If your urine culture does not show any bacteria, the odds are that you have a mycoplasma infection that can be cured when you and your partner take the newer long-acting erythomycins, such as Biaxin or Zithromax. If you have recurrent bladder infections with an intestinal bacteria called E. Coli, your doctor may ask you to take a single antibiotic pill each time before you make love.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News