Update on prevalence and treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections

Abstract

The prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is characterized by variations (sometimes extreme) by country and geographic region. The conventional association of MRSA with healthcare settings has been upset by the emergence of community-associated MRSA infections in many areas. With this surge in MRSA comes a renewed interest in alternative agents to vancomycin for treatment of MRSA infections, including older drugs, such as clindamycin, doxycycline and trimethoprim– sulfamethoxazole. Newer agents, such as linezolid and daptomycin, are aiming to improve on the poor cure rates found with vancomycin in serious MRSA infections, but definitive studies showing superiority of these drugs are not yet available. Finally, the drug-development pipeline contains a number of agents for the treatment of MRSA infections, including enhanced glycopeptides (dalbavancin, oritavancin and telavancin) and anti-MRSA cephalosporins (ceftobiprole). As MRSA becomes the ‘new normal’ in many areas, clinicians will have to sort out the proper role of a dozen or more anti-MRSA drugs.

Keywords::

• ceftopibrole
• daptomycin
• glycopeptides
• linezolid
• methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
• pharmacotherapy
• prevalence
• vancomycin

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.