Urinary tract infection natural medicine instead of antibiotics

Urinary tract infections: phytotherapeutics instead of antibiotics

06/26/2014

Above all, bacteria in the bladder are a women's issue: on the one hand, they often remain asymptomatic, on the other hand, they cause an acute, uncomplicated urinary tract infection at least once in their lives for around 40 percent of all women. When it comes to whether and how to combat bladder germs, herbal medicines are increasingly considered an important treatment option.

Like all bacterial pathogens, uropathogenic bacteria - mostly highly specialized Escherichia coli - are increasingly developing resistance to antibiotics. The causal connection with the frequent prescription is clear. For this reason, antibiotics should also be used more consciously in urology. Kurt G. Naber. As the urologist and former chief physician of the Urological Clinic at the St. Elisabeth Clinic, Straubing, emphasizes, for example, not every patient in whom urine can detect bacteria needs to be treated with antibiotics - especially the asymptomatic presence of germs in the urinary bladder could be of benefit: women affected suffer less from the symptoms of recurrent urinary tract infections than patients who have taken an antibiotic because of their asymptomatic bacteriuria.

Nor, according to Prof. Naber, are antibiotics generally necessary for urinary tract infections. Although this is still the treatment of choice according to the scientific societies, recent research approaches have focused more on the treatment of the complaints than on the fight against the pathogens. This increasingly opens up opportunities to completely dispense with antibiotics and they are e.g. to replace with herbal medicines.

For example, a pilot study on 125 women with acute, uncomplicated urinary tract infections confirms the curative effect of a herbal medicinal product. After taking a combination of extracts of rosemary leaves, centaury, and lovage root for a week, their symptoms - mainly frequent and burning urination and massive urinary urgency - quickly and distinctly subsided. (Pm)

Urinary tract infections are equally well-tolerated in medicinal products containing extracts of nasturtium and horseradish root. Clinical studies show that the mustard oils they contain not only have the ability to kill bacteria but also counteract relapses. An important feature, because urinary tract infections often come in spite of previous antibiotic treatment in a short time. (Pm)

Image: Dorothea Jacob