COMPARISON OF PIVMECILLINAM AND CEPHRADINE IN BACTERIURIA IN PREGNANCY AND IN ACUTE URINARY-TRACT INFECTION

48 non-pregnant domiciliary patients referred by general practitioners and 50 pregnant women were treated for bacteriuria with either 500 mg cephradine or 400 mg pivmecillinam every 6 h for 7 days. In the pregnant women, cure rates were over 90% after 2 weeks for both compounds, and after 6 weeks were 86 % for cephradine and 78 % for pivmecillinam. Cure rates in the non-pregnant patients were 83% for cephradine and 95 % for pivmecillinam at 6 weeks. Seven patients (3 given cephradine, 4 given pivmecillinam) stopped treatment due to side-effects. Overall, side-effects (many of which were trivial) were more common in patients treated with cephradine (51 %) than in those receiving pivmecillinam (33 %). It is concluded that both drugs are highly effective in these two common types of urinary infection. © 1979, Informa UK Ltd. All rights reserved.