[Antibiotics for treatment of infections by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)]

Over the last 50 years methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) spread globally. Vancomycin is still the most recommended antibiotic for MRSA-infections. Teicoplanin is an alternative glycopeptide with longer elimination half-life. Telavancin is a more recently developed derivative of vancomycin with similar clinical efficacy as vancomycin. It is not recommended for treatment of patients with renal insufficiency. Nephrotoxicity limits the therapeutic use of glycopeptide antibiotics. The oxazolidinone linezolid exhibits similar to superior therapeutic efficacy. Hematologic controls are necessary during treatment with this antibacterial agent. Neurotoxic effects have been observed mainly in patients who received prolonged linezolid treatment. Attention must be paid to possible interactions with concomitantly given drugs acting on the serotonergic system. New therapeutic options arise with ceftaroline, the first β-lactam antibiotic with activity against MRSA. However, controlled clinical trials with pulmonary MRSA infections have not been conducted with ceftaroline. Daptomycin, a lipopeptide, and tigecycline, a glycylcyclin are active in vitro against MRSA as well, but are also not indicated in pulmonary MRSA infections. These antibiotics show in an exemplary manner that antibacterial activity in vitro is an important prerequisite, but relevant data for a therapeutic decision should be derived from randomized controlled clinical double-blind trials.