Open study of teicoplanin in gram-positive infections

Eighteen patients with documented Gram-positive infections which included osteomyelitis, prosthetic infections, endocarditis, skin and soft tissue, and urinary tract infections were treated with teicoplanin. The organisms involved included Staphylococcus aureus (15 isolates of which six were methicillin-resistant-MRSA), Staphylococcus epidermidis (two), Streptococcus faecalis (one) and Streptococcus milleri (one). Clinical success occurred in all seven patients with skin and soft tissue Streptococcus milleri (one). Clinical success occurred in all seven patients with skin and soft tissue infections (with bacterial persistence in three out of the seven), in three patients with bacteraemia endocarditis, and in one of the three patients with chronic osteomyelitis. In four patients with prosthetic bone and joint infections, clinical improvement followed removal of prostheses. Adverse effects occurred in two patients and these included one patient with a rise in serum aspartate aminotransferase and bilirubin and one patient with a rise in blood urea, both of which returned to within normal limits on discontinuing the drug. The study showed that teicoplanin is a safe and effective antistaphylococcal agent.