[Urinary infection in childhood].

It is now widely recognized not only that urinary infection in childhood is a common and recurrent condition, but also that symptomatic improvement of the acute episode, whether spontaneous or after a short course of chemotherapy, may be followed by persistent asymptomatic infection (Kass, 1956; Kunin et al., 1964; Dunn et al., 1964). It is also accepted that infection of the urinary tract in childhood may have a serious outcome. De Luca et al. (1963) state that 210 out of 597 children treated intermittently with antimicrobial therapy eventually developed severe renal damage. In a retrospective study of 72 patients admitted to hospital during childhood because of urinary infection, and whose symptoms had started 11 to 27 years earlier, Steele et al. (1963) found that 18% had died, and a further 300' had progressive renal insufficiency