RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE THERAPEUTIC MANAGEMENT OF NON COMPLICATED URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS IN ADULTS

Non complicated acute urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most common bacterial diseases in the human species. More than 150 million UTIs (non complicated/complicated) are, in fact, annually diagnosed and treated worlwide (Sobel Kaye, 1990; Stamm and Hooton, 1993; Stamm, 1998; Stamm and Norrby, 2001; Foxman, 2002). UTI include cystitis and pyelonephritis (the latter is not discussed in this paper) that occur in individuals without morphological-functional alterations of the excretory tract. This disease is more common in female and/or in menopause patients. 25-50% of the individuals in this population, aged between 20 and 40 years, can be affected by UTI at least once in a lifetime and can be prone to more or less frequent relapses. (Johnson, 1998; Stamm, 2001). Male subjects are less frequently affected by UTI, but when affected, they experience more serious episodes often representing a warning signal of anatomical alterations of the urinary apparatus or the presence of risk factors.......