Right off the top, I apologize for the obviousness of the Mr. Spock reference. I couldn’t resist! A few months ago I was invited by Robert Kirsner, MD, PhD and Stephanie Wu, DPM to write a chapter on “Antimicrobial Therapy” in their upcoming Wound Healing Society Yearbook. The design of the chapter is a review … Read more
Those of you who have read my chapter on MRSA in the 3rd Edition of the Handbook of Lower Extremity Infections (haven’t you all by now?!) or listened to me lecture about MRSA know that I am less than happy with what I perceive to be the overuse of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX, Bactrim® or Septra®) used … Read more
There is a small group of us that, when we find an interesting article dealing with infections, we pass them on so we can all be stay up to date. Some of the journals are fairly obscure and are not in my usual monthly reading so I find this a great way to read articles … Read more
I will be in Columbus, OH for the Region IV (Ohio) meeting to lecture on June 3, 2010. I have been given the “Learning Lunch” spot from 12:00 to 1:30 and plan on covering a broad range of lower extremity infectious diseases topics including MRSA, antibiotic therapy for osteomyelitis and diabetic foot infections. Prior to … Read more
I just returned from a lecture trip to Turkey where I had the privilege of giving 5 talks, one in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya at a nationwide Hospital Infection Congress and 4 to the faculties at various medical universities throughout the country. Before getting into details about specifics dealing with lower extremity infections … Read more
(My thanks to David Armstrong, DPM, PhD for bringing this press release to my attention) TaiGen Announces Nemonoxacin (TG-873870) Once-A-Day Oral Dosing in Diabetic Foot Infection Met Primary Endpoints According to its manufacturer TaiGen, nemonoxacin, a novel, non-fluorinated quinolone has shown promising results in a single armed, multinational, proof of concept Phase II clinical trial … Read more
For a number of years I have been presenting a lecture entitled “Differentiating infected from non-infected wounds”. As part of that talk I discuss the role of topical antimicrobials in wound healing. Despite there being a countless number of silver impregnated dressings along with multiple other antimicrobial dressings and solutions filled with all different types … Read more
Two studies published in the January 7, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine have received a tremendous amount of play in the popular press. One paper out of Baylor in Houston looked at comparing chlorhexidine + alcohol vs. povidone iodine as a preoperative surgical prep. In a total of 849 subjects in … Read more
Telavancin (Vibativ – Theravance/Astellas) is a novel lipoglycopeptide, related to vancomycin, that has been recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) caused by MRSA. Telavancin now joins the ranks of vancomycin, linezolid, daptomycin and tigecycline as being the only 5 antibiotics with this approval. An excellent … Read more
Some interesting news just came out yesterday. It looks like J&J’s new anti-MRSA cephalosporin, ceftobiprole has been, once again, turned back by the FDA. See the story here: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0572888.htm Many of us had pretty high hopes for this antibiotic as it was to be the first cephalosporin active against MRSA. Although it is IV only, … Read more