OK, by request, here are some additional information about urinary tract infections.
The most common bacteria found on urine cultures is E. Coli. It is responsible for 75%-95% of all urinary tract infections. Since your doctor knows the most common cause, he has a pretty good idea of which antibiotic to choose. However, there are increasing problems with resistance to antibiotics so the doctor may sometimes need to adjust your prescription.
You may have also noticed that the treatment of UTI is usually only 3 days but can range from 3-10 days of treatment. The duration that your doctor chooses to treat your infection will depend on your age, your sex, and any other potential risk for complications.
As stated in the last UTI post, if the infection is limited to the lower urinary tract, i.e. the bladder, the treatment is straightforward. If the infection has progressed to the upper urinary tract, i.e. the kidneys, this will require a lengthier duration of antibiotics. Men will probably get a longer treatment also and may also require additional tests i.e. checking the prostate.
Most UTIs can probably be treated without a doctor’s visit. In fact, they have studied guidelines where patients with UTI symptoms are phone triage by a nurse and treated accordingly and have found that patients’ satisfaction is 95%! And of course, it saved a lot of health care dollars. That being said, we still get urine samples and check cultures when patients come in to the office, although it sometimes may not be necessary.
Other interesting facts: women are advised to get up and empty the bladder after sexual intercourse to help prevent UTIs. Women are more likely than men to get UTIs (thanks to our shorter urethra). If you get frequent, recurring UTIs, you might benefit from prophylaxis antibiotics. This is a dose of antibiotic that you would take on a regular basis (daily or weekly) in order to prevent the infection. (Talk to your doctor about this).