Daptomycin versus standard therapy for bacteremia and endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

Background: Alternative therapies for Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and endocarditis are needed.

Methods: We randomly assigned 124 patients with S. aureus bacteremia with or without endocarditis to receive 6 mg of daptomycin intravenously per kilogram of body weight daily and 122 to receive initial low-dose gentamicin plus either an antistaphylococcal penicillin or vancomycin.

Daptomycin: a lipopeptide antibiotic for the treatment of serious Gram-positive infections.

Infections caused by drug-resistant pathogens are on the rise. Daptomycin, a cyclic lipopeptide with activity against most Gram-positive pathogens, including vancomycin-resistant enterococci and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a newly US-FDA approved antimicrobial for complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI). Daptomycin has a unique mechanism of action that results in destruction of the membrane potential.

The importance of bactericidal drugs: future directions in infectious disease.

Background: Although a considerable amount of research has gone into the study of the role of bactericidal versus bacteriostatic antimicrobial agents in the treatment of different infectious diseases, there is no accepted standard of practice.

Methods: A panel of infectious diseases specialists reviewed the available literature to try to define specific recommendations for clinical practice.

Results: In infections of the central nervous system, the rapidity with which the organism is killed may be an important determinant, because of the serious damage that may occur during these clinical situations.

The safety and efficacy of daptomycin for the treatment of complicated skin and skin-structure infections.

Daptomycin is the first available agent from a new class of antibiotics, the cyclic lipopeptides, that has activity against a broad range of gram-positive pathogens, including organisms that are resistant to methicillin, vancomycin, and other currently available agents. Daptomycin (4 mg/kg intravenously [iv] every 24 h for 7-14 days) was compared with conventional antibiotics (penicillinase-resistant penicillins [4-12 g iv per day] or vancomycin [1 g iv every 12 h]) in 2 randomized, international trials involving 1092 patients with complicated skin and skin-structure infections. Among 902 clinically evaluable patients, clinical success rates were 83.