Sex and Urinary Tract Infections

The association between sexual intercourse and acute cystitis in women has been recognized for generations in folk wisdom (e.g., “honeymoon cystitis”), but researchers have been less certain of this association.1 In fact, a causal relation between two very common events, intercourse and acute cystitis, is difficult to establish.Several studies have linked urinary tract infections to heterosexual intercourse. Kunin and McCormack noted that nuns had a lower prevalence of bacteriuria than other populations of women during early adult life.2 Buckley et al.3 reported an increase in bacterial counts in the urine after intercourse in 30 percent of women, and Nicolle . . .