title: Treatment of infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant gram-positive bacteria.
abstract: An increasing proportion of Staphylococcus aureus infections are caused by methicillin-resistant S aureus. Treatment of infections caused by this organism is challenging, especially because therapy with vancomycin, the traditional antibiotic of choice for methicillin-resistant S aureus infections, is associated with an increasing frequency of treatment failure, and vancomycin insensitive and vancomycin-resistant strains have emerged. In addition, Enterococcus sp. isolated from human infections are increasingly resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents. Newer drugs available for treatment of resistant Gram-positive bacterial infections in the United States include linezolid, daptomycin, tigecycline and telavancin. The precise role for these newer agents is still evolving. Organisms resistant to each of these antimicrobials have emerged. New drugs in development include cephalosporins and carbapenems with MRSA activity.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Section, Department of Medicine, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73190, USA. karenkinney@ouhsc.edu
authors.forename: Karen K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kinney
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents