A bladder infection can be prevented with lactobacilli capsules.
Catitis
After the menopause, many women get a bladder infection several times a year. They then receive estrogen creams and tablets for vaginal use prescribed, but these don't always work. Antibiotics do their job well, but can become resistant to an infection.
Research
Two researchers from the AMC, Suzanne Geerlings and Mariëlle Beerepoot, investigated an alternative together with researchers from Maastricht UMC. 252 healthy postmenopausal women were followed for 12 months. Half were given low amounts of an antibiotic and the other half were given capsules of lactobacilli twice a day.
The number of bladder infections appeared to decrease strongly in both groups. At first the women had a bladder infection on average seven times a year and now this number had been reduced to 2.9 for the group receiving antibiotics and 3.3 for the other group. In the women who used antibiotics, the first cystitis occurred on average after six months and after using the lactobacilli on average after three months.
Alternative
The lactobacilli therefore work less well than an antibiotic, but the results are very close and no resistance occurs. An attractive alternative to solve this annoying problem!
