| Treatment |
Pros |
Cons |
| Antibiotics |
effective against many common infections |
not effective against biofilms |
| easy to administer |
bacteria can develop resistance |
| few side effects |
some can result in side effects that exaggerate initial symptoms |
| inexpensive |
can cause severe allergic reactions |
| Catheter coated with silver nanoparticles |
bacteria cannot develop resistance |
there can be serious side effects |
| uninvasive in those who would otherwise be having a catheter fitted anyway |
catheters support biofilm formation which can lead to recurring infections |
| Botox |
increases comfort by lessening symptoms of incontinence |
does not treat underlying infection |
|
may need to have a catheter fitted which increases incidence of infection |
|
long term effect unknown |
|
invasive |
| Methenamine hippurate |
bacteria can’t develop resistance |
have to take doses every day to prevent infection |
|
requires additional supplements for effective treatment (Vitamin C, Cranberry supplements) |
|
relatively new treatment which hasn’t been tested in children, the elderly, or breastfeeding women, so this limits the number of cases it can be prescribed in |
| solUTIon |
offers attack and defence against biofilm formation |
as yet, untested in humans. there may be some unforeseen side effects |
| bacteria cannot develop resistance |
|
| relatively uninvasive |
|
| acts against more than one species of bacteria and fungi |
|