Antibiotics for UTI in children . . . and other stories

Abstract

How long a course of antibiotics is needed for children with urinary tract infections? A randomised trial failed to reach a definite answer. Among 650 children aged 2 months to 10 years who showed clinical improvement after fivedaysof antimicrobials, half were allocated to another five days of antimicrobials and the other half to five days of placebo. Recurrence of symptomswasmore common in those receiving placebo, but the absolute rate of treatment failure was low (JAMA Pediatr doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.1979).