Treating Bladder Infections in China

I asked Dr. Katherine to email me some information about treating bladder infections. There are a few different treatments and Katherine’s given us the Chinese hanzi as well as pinyin. You should be able to ask at any pharmacy and purchase these drugs over the counter.

Bladder infections are also known as urinary tract infections (UTI). The Mandarin Chinese for “urinary tract infection” is “尿路感染” (niao4 lu4 gan3 ran3). Anyway, hope this helps someone out!

Urinary tract infection (UTI) uncomplicated

The classic symptoms of urinary tract infection (UTI) in women are dysuria, frequency, and urgency. If there is fever, flank pain, blood in urine present, or the symptoms exist a long duration, it may be a more complicated case and one should seek professional help.

Treatment

One of the following:

• Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole double strength (D.S.) 1 twice a day (BID) x 3 days
  = Co-trimoxazole 复方新诺明 fu4 fang1 xin1 nuo4 ming2
• Trimethoprim 100 mg 1 twice daily x 3 days

If allergic to sulfa or trimethoprim:

• Nitrofurantoin (Macrobid) 100 mg twice daily x 7 days
  = Nitrofurantoin 呋喃妥因 fu1 nan2 tuo3 yin1
• Ciprofloxacin 250 mg BID x 3 days
  = Ciprofloxacin 环丙沙星 huan2 bing3 sha1 xing1

UPDATE: We managed to find at least one of these over-the-counter. So just try asking the pharmacist to help you look for these medicines.

Again, if you have questions about any of this, please let me know. I can also put you in touch with my friend Katherine, an American doctor here in Kunming. I’d also be interested in hearing about any experience — bad or otherwise — with any of the products mentioned here. Please leave a comment or email me at elizabeth@elizabethinchina.com