New approaches to serious infections in the surgical patient

The primary treatment of serious surgical infections involves a surgical procedure--debridement, drainage, or diversion--coupled with the adjunctive use of antibiotic therapy. Antibiotics are administered as prophylaxis, as presumptive therapy, or as precise therapy. Prophylactic antibiotics must be nontoxic, inexpensive, and have a broad spectrum of activity. It is also important that they not interfere with the primary treatment or the host defense. Antibiotics for presumptive therapy must be active against a wide range of presumed pathogens, but they are chosen primarily for their efficacy and secondarily for their lack of toxic and immunosuppressive effects. Because surgical infections are polymicrobial, standard therapy has consisted of a combination of antibiotics; monotherapy with an agent that is less toxic but as effective as combination therapy is a promising new approach to treatment.