Treatment and prevention of recurrent staphylococcal furunculosis: clinical and bacteriological follow-up

Various therapeutic and preventive methods were evaluated in 80 patients with recurrent staphylococcal furunculosis. The most appropriate treatment was peroral antibiotics for 10-14 days, mainly flucloxacillin twice daily. Fusidic acid ointment was used for prevention of relapses. Patients and healthy family members who carried the patient strain applied the ointment in nares twice daily every 4th week during 4-15 months. The method had a permanent effect in 80%. Implantation of strain 502 A was less effective when evaluated during a 2-3 yr period. 40-80 patients were checked up to 8 yr after their last furuncle. Three still had furuncles, in 2 of these cases the original strain was found in nares. 37 patients, now healthy after a mean observation time of 4.5 yr, showed either new nasal strains or negative cultures. A significantly lower frequency of phage group II strains in nares was noted in comparison to the previous findings during active furunculosis.