Researchers across 23 medical centers found a new two-dose treatment that could be as effective as standard treatment for complicated Staphylococcus aureus.
The study was led by researchers from Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health, Washington, D.C.-based George Washington University and the University of California San Francisco and published Aug. 13 in JAMA. It involved a clinical trial at 22 medical centers in the U.S. and one in Canada between April 2021 and December 2023. Two hundred hospitalized adults with complicated S. aureus bacteremia who achieved blood cultures clearance following at least 72 hours but no more than 10 days of initial antibacterial therapy were included.
Patients received either the standardized treatment of four to eight weeks of standard intravenous therapy or two doses of intravenous dalbavancin.
Researchers found that the two-dose antibiotic treatment may be as effective as traditional long-term IV therapy. Dalbavancin, given in two doses a week apart, treated the infection without the risk or burdens of a peripherally inserted central catheter. Dalbavancin cured infections equally as well as standard treatment and had slightly fewer side effects.
The treatment could reduce the need for home health visits, lab monitoring or risks associated with PICC lines, according to an Aug. 13 Duke Health news release.
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