Loading...
Among patients with staphylococcal bone or heart-valve infections, outcomes have been improved with antibiotic combinations that include rifampin. But what is the effect of adding rifampin to vancomycin for treating nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia?
To find out, researchers in Seoul, South Korea, conducted a randomized, open-label trial between July 2004 and December 2006 involving 93 critically ill nonneutropenic adults with gram-positive nosocomial pneumonia. Forty-six patients received intravenous vancomycin (1 g) plus oral rifampin (300 mg) twice daily; 47 received intravenous vancomycin only. Five patients in each group were later excluded because MRSA was not detected or their isolates proved resi…