Antibiotic Duration for Bacteremic Urinary Tract Infections in Infants

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common serious bacterial infection in infants, and the risk of concomitant bacteremia is highest in very young infants. Currently, there are no recommendations for the duration of parenteral antibiotic therapy for infants with bacteremic UTI. To determine whether treatment duration is associated with relapse, researchers reviewed charts of 251 infants <3 months of age at 20 U.S. hospitals from 1998 to 2013. Infants with comorbid conditions, including meningitis, were excluded.

Escherichia coli caused 89.9% of infections. The mean duration of parenteral antibiotics was 7.8 days (range, 1–19 days). The most common durations were 3, 7, 10, and 14 days. Individual institution's practices accounted for so…