Loading...
Bone and joint infections (BJIs) require prolonged courses of antibiotics. In children, uncomplicated BJIs are treated for about 4 weeks, first with 2 to 4 days of intravenous (IV) antibiotics and then with oral therapy. (Adults typically receive parenteral antibiotics, although oral therapies are becoming more routine.) The antibiotic cephalexin is a commonly used oral treatment for BJIs, but its standard dosing (every 6 hours) poses concerns about adherence. Investigators retrospectively evaluated oral continuation therapy with cephalexin (40–50 mg/kg; maximum, 1.5 g) three times daily in 163 children (age range, 1–17 years) with hematogenous BJIs at a single Australian hospital.
BJIs were acute in 123 patients, subacute in 30, and chronic…