MRSA Treatment

In a single-center, open-label study, use of oral linezolid (Zyvox) produced significantly better clinical outcomes than intravenous (I.V.) vancomycin in the management of complicated skin and soft-tissue infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The study results were published in the April issue of the American Journal of Surgery.

Investigators followed 60 patients age 18 or older with at least 1 MRSA-infected lesion requiring surgical intervention. Thirty patients were randomized to each treatment group, and they received either oral linezolid or I.V. vancomycin for 7 to 21 days. The investigators looked at clinical and microbiological outcomes, duration of hospitalization and drug treatment, and outpatient charges.

Results showed that patients taking linezolid had greater rates of clinical cure and improvement (P = .015), a 3-day shorter median length of stay (P = .003), and reduced outpatient charges (P < .001). Patients receiving vancomycin therapy had more treatment failures and subsequent lower-extremity amputations (P = .011).

Source: Sharpe JN, Shively EH, Polk HC Jr. Clinical and economic outcomes of oral linezolid versus intravenous vancomycin in the treatment of MRSA-complicated, lower-extremity skin and soft-tissue infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Am J Surg 2005;189:425-8.