Image courtesy of National Institutes of Health

redorbit.com | Article Link | by Lawrence LeBlond

Two separate studies published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine are paving the way for more effective treatments in deadly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.

DALBAVANCIN

The first study comes from a team led by Helen Boucher, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical Center. That study reports on an antibiotic called dalbavancin (Dalvance) that has shown just as effective as vancomycin, which is the current standard treatment used against serious bacterial skin infections. The results of the study establishes dalbavancin as an effective therapy for MRSA infections.

Acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infections, such as MRSA, are among the most common reasons adults are hospitalized in the US today, with associated medical costs skyrocketing for infection treatment. While the number of healthcare-spread MRSA cases has been in decline in recent years, on any given day four percent of hospital patients have at least one healthcare associated infection (HAI), according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Read more...