Increased Mortality Seen With Empirical Anti-MRSA Treatment for Pneumonia

Authors of a retrospective study attempted to assess the use of anti-MRSA empiric therapy for patients hospitalized with pneumonia vs. traditional broad-spectrum empiric therapy.

They reported only 5% in patients hospitalized with pneumonia have MDR organisms isolated, and that there still remains a need for better diagnosing a cause for pneumonia.  The anti-MRSA empiric therapy was associated with a 40% higher incidence of kidney damage, a 50% higher risk of secondary gram-negative bacterial infection and 60% greater incidence of
C. difficile overgrowth.  Trana stands ready to aid this clinical situation with rapid diagnostics for pneumonia and therapeutic discovery programs that would generate precision antibiotics that might avoid the side effects of
many broad-spectrum antibiotics that was the subject of a recent editorial.