ABSTRACT
The commonest urinary tract problem faced by the general practitioner is bacterial urinary tract infection in the adult female. The female urethra opens in a region where bacterial colonisation from gut organisms is the rule and the female urethra is short. It is no surprise, therefore, that bacteria readily ascend into the bladder where they find a culture medium (urine) at ideal temperature for bacterial multiplication. Bladder infection with inflammation of the sensitive internal lining of the bladder (cystitis) may follow. Up to two million of the female population of the UK have or have had bladder infection of this sort, which is a cause of much misery, loss of time from work and disturbed sexual relationships.
