Female patients presenting to their general practitioner with symptoms of uncomplicated urinary tract infection (cystitis) were entered into one of three therapeutic trials in a study programme of cefuroxime axetil (125 mg twice daily or 250 mg twice daily) conducted throughout the United Kingdom. On entry to the study, demographic information, infection recurrence rate and clinical signs and symptoms were recorded and the patient given medication for 7-days' treatment. Post-treatment, clinical signs and symptoms were re-assessed and adverse event data collected. Of the 672 patients who entered the programme, 605 patients completed the course of treatment of whom 510 were taking the 125 mg and 95 taking the 250 mg dosage. No significant difference in clinical efficacy or adverse events was found between the two dosage regimens. Analysis of the changes in symptom severity from the pre-treatment to the post-treatment evaluation for all patients showed a highly significant improvement (p less than 0.001). One hundred and five (15.6%) of the patients who entered the study reported a total of 132 adverse events, 16 of whom were withdrawn from treatment. The most frequent event was diarrhoea/loose motions. This study shows that cefuroxime axetil appears to be effective and well-tolerated for the treatment of cystitis in general practice.