An integrated clinical microbiology service ensures optimal early empirical antimicrobial therapy for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection.

摘要

We read with interest the article by Herzke et al1 about empirical antimicrobial therapy for bloodstream infection (BSI) due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus au-reus (MRSA). In that study, slightly more than one-half (51.8%) of the patients with MRSA BSI received appropriate empirical therapy. We find this surprising, given that among hospitalized patients, MRSA is the causative organism in up to 20% of BSIs2 and bearing in mind the well-documented excess mortality for MRSA BSI, compared with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus BSI, and findings that improved survival is associated with early appropriate treatment in MRSA BSI.