Successful treatment of polymicrobial calcaneal osteomyelitis with telavancin, rifampin, and meropenem

To report a case of multidrug-resistant osteomyelitis successfully treated with telavancin, rifampin, and meropenem.

An 18-year-old male with spina bifida was treated primarily in the outpatient setting over the course of 133 days with multiple antimicrobials for a recurrent right calcaneal wound and osteomyelitis infection. Initial cultures were positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, which were treated with intravenous vancomycin 1 g every 12 hours, increased after 13 days to 1.5 g every 12 hours with addition of rifampin 300 mg twice daily, both of which were discontinued on day 22 due to leukopenia (white blood cell count 3.0 × 10(3)/μL) and neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count 0.2 × 10(3)/μL). Daptomycin 8 mg/kg/day was then initiated with rifampin 300 mg twice daily; treatment was discontinued after 49 days due to an elevated creatine kinase level of 1831 U/L (baseline 86). Intravenous meropenem 1 g every 8 hours was again initiated on day 83 following additional identification of quinolone-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the soft tissue of the right foot. Intravenous vancomycin 1 g every 12 hours was also restarted at this time for persistent coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and oral rifampin 300 mg twice daily was again added. Adverse events again required the discontinuation of vancomycin on day 91. The eventual drug therapy regimen consisted of telavancin 750 mg/day for 42 days, meropenem for 50 days, and oral rifampin for 50 days. At the end of treatment, the patient's right heel wound had almost completely closed. He was without recurrence or treatment-related adverse events at follow-up 1 year later.

Antimicrobial selection for osteomyelitis infections presents a challenge to the clinician due to patient intolerance, increasing antimicrobial resistance, and variable antimicrobial penetration at the site of infection. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of the successful use of a regimen including telavancin for the treatment of a recurrent, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus osteomyelitis infection.

In this complex case involving a polymicrobial infection of the right calcaneal bone and surrounding soft tissue, eventual drug therapy including telavancin, meropenem, and rifampin resulted in a successful clinical response.