Considerable information on the pharmacodynamics of β-lactams has accumulated in the
past 20 years. In vitro, β-lactams demonstrate time-dependent killing and variable …

Over the last decade, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains have
emerged as serious pathogens. These strains are often multiresistant to several antibiotic …

Bacteriostatic and bactericidal antibiotic treatments result in two fundamentally different
phenotypic outcomes—the inhibition of bacterial growth or, alternatively, cell death. Most …

In certain unique clinical settings, the ability of the antimicrobial agent administered to kill the
pathogen outright may be quite important. These situations invariably involve infection of a …

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is indicated for pathogens contributing to an
infectious process that warrants antimicrobial therapy if susceptibility to antimicrobials …

The increasing emergence of antimicrobial-resistant organisms, especially methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has resulted in the increased use of rifampin …

The clinical courses of 13 consecutive intravenous drug users with Staphylococcus aureus
endocarditis treated principally with vancomycin were reviewed. Two patients, one with only …

Background. Although a considerable amount of research has gone into the study of the role
of bactericidal versus bacteriostatic antimicrobial agents in the treatment of different …

Filter paper disks impregnated with antimicrobial agents are placed on the agar. The
NCCLS describes a standard method for disk diffusion testing of nonfastidious bacteria. The …

Enterococci, most often Enterococcusfaecalis, cause 5%–20% of cases of infective
endocarditis (IE). Enterococcal IE is usually a disease of older men, and the most frequent …