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A recent trial of a new antibiotic for cystitis has shown the drug to be more effective than existing treatments, but it is expensive. Cystitis is the bane of many a relationship when couples start sleeping together. It's a bladder infection mainly affecting women, associated with sexual activity, especially when there's a new male partner. The symptoms are pain on passing urine – although some women would say that's an understatement, reckoning peeing razor blades is closer to the mark. Cystitis is common and GPs hand out buckets of antibiotics for it – the question is which are best? A trial in the United States has suggested some answers. One of the most effective treatments is cotrimoxazole which goes under brand names like Septrin and Bactrim. But in parts of the world there are high levels of resistance. So what's the back up? This trial took a commonly prescribed medication called amoxicillin-clavulanate (one trade name is Augmentin) which is supposed to counteract penicillin resistance. It was compared to ciprofloxacin – an antibiotic that shouldn't be thrown around since it's expensive and should be kept in reserve. Even so, the trial showed that a three day course of ciprofloxacin was significantly more effective. But that doesn't change the fact that simpler medications should be tried first. In Australia the recommendation is trimethoprim which avoids reactions to sulpha antibiotics.
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