Acute bacterial osteoarticular infections: eight-year analysis of C-reactive protein for oral step-down therapy.

Background: One of the most important decisions in the treatment of osteoarticular infections is the time at which parenteral therapy can be changed to oral therapy. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute inflammatory indicator with a half-life of 19 hours and thus can be helpful in assessing the adequacy of therapy for bacterial infections. At our institution, a combination of CRP and clinical findings is used to determine the transition to oral therapy.