There’s a possible solution at hand for problems associated with the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Antibiotic resistance and transmission of the nasty bacteria has come about because of treatment failure; as patients start feeling better, they stop taking their antibiotics, creating ideal breeding grounds for resistant strains.
Enter Oritavancin, a possible substitute for vancomycin, the standard treatment for the flesh-eating bug. Vancomycin’s weakness has been that it requires twice-daily treatment for seven to ten days.
The new drug’s half-life is so long that it requires only one dose.
Study authors G. Ralph Corey et al., report in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that results were equivalent to full treatment of vancomycin. One drawback to the new substance is that there is no way to withdraw treatment should the drug have injurious side effects, such as a life-threatening allergic reaction.
But it’s good to have an alternative.