From April to July 1984, all of the strains recovered by 10 private laboratories in Upper-Normandy region (France) from urine samples from outpatients seen in office practices (public and private hospitals excluded) were preserved. A total of 829 strains were collected, identified and tested against antibiotics using disk diffusion techniques. These investigations, together with a synthesis of clinical findings, were carried out by the Laboratory of Bacteriology of the Rouen University Hospital. 78.1% of patients were females; all age groups were represented with a greater prevalence of subjects aged 26 to 35 and above 66. E. coli was the most prevalent pathogen (74.5% of all strains), followed by Proteus and Providencia (10%). E. coli was recovered in 78% of first infections against 67.7% of recurrent infections and 50% of prostatitis. More than 25% of strains were resistant to ampicillin; norfloxacin showed the best activity, with 96.5% of susceptible strains.