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The shortest possible duration of antibiotic therapy is desirable to reduce selective pressure for resistant pathogens — a key element of antibiotic-stewardship programs. A previous investigation showed that 4 days of antibiotics for mild to moderately severe intraabdominal infections was as effective as longer treatments (NEJM JW Infect Dis Jul 2015 and N Engl J Med 2015; 372:2062). Would shorter-duration antibiotic treatment be as effective for severe postoperative intraabdominal infections that require supportive care for organ dysfunction and are often associated with multiresistant pathogens?
To find out, French researchers conducted a prospective, randomized, open-label study between 2011 and 2015 in which 410 critically ill patients a…