Combined Regimen Best Fights Infection in the Critically Ill

(quinupristin/dalfopristin) has demonstrated the ability to clear infections in critically ill patients with oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA). In contrast, treatment of ORSA bacteremias with vancomycin and then with Synercid therapy (alone or with rifampin) did not clear the infections.

In investigating bactericidal activity, researchers found that vancomycin was the least active, Synercid was more active than vancomycin, and the combination of Synercid and vancomycin was the most active. Staphylococci commonly cause hospital-acquired infections such as pneumonia, surgical site infections, and bloodstream infections as well as community-acquired infections such as bone and skin infections. Synercid is the first injectable antibiotic in a distinct class known as streptogramins. It has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat bloodstream infections due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and skin infections caused by methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes.

"With increasing bacterial resistance to vancomycin, we need to continue to identify novel treatment methods for patients who are critically ill,” said Joseph L. Gugliotta, M.D., an infectious disease specialist from Hunterdon Medical Center (Flemington, NJ, USA) and the lead investigator. "The results achieved by combining Synercid with vancomycin are encouraging for physicians faced with treating these life-threatening infections.” Synercid is the product of Aventis Pharma AG (Frankfurt, Germany).




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