Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7564.397-b

BMJ 2006;333:397 (19 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7564.397-b

Letter

Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—In his editorial on Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemiaPaul says that some doubt remains about the optimal durationof antibiotic treatment.¹ A prospective study of 278 cases ofS aureus bacteraemia (mainly methicillin sensitive strains)looked at potential risk factors and outcome, using multipleregression analysis.² Factors related to death were durationof treatment less than 14 days, an uneradicated focus, septicshock, total daily dose of flucloxacillin < 4 g, and age60 years or more. Anecdotally, treatment of S aureus is oftenstopped before 14 days, as the patient seems to have recovered,and the requirement for this minimum length of treatment isnot widely appreciated.

Credit: CDC/SPL

Close liaison between infection specialists (microbiologistsand infectious disease doctors) and clinicians also needs tobe emphasised. In a study of 244 patients with S aureus bacteraemia,clinical outcome was improved (better eradication of S aureusand less relapses . . . [Full text of this article]

Charis Marwick, specialist registrar infectious diseases

Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee DD1 9SY

William J Olver, consultant microbiologist

william.olver@nhs.net Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee DD1 9SY