Antibiotic Combo Helps Heal Abscesses Related to MRSA

Patients with drained uncomplicated abscesses are more likely to heal with a combination of trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole antibiotics, according to a new study.

Recently there has been an increase in patients visiting the emergency department for cutaneous abscesses due to a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that is resistant to methicillin antibiotics. However, it’s unclear how antibiotics would affect patients with a drained abscess.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
The Health Care Worker, Resistant Bacteria (MRSA), and Preventing Contagion
Cigarette Smoke Increases MRSA's Drug Resistance
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

To conduct their study, researchers treated 630 outpatients aged 14 to 73 years who had a drained, uncomplicated abscess related to MRSA at 5 US emergency departments.

Researchers randomly separated the patients into 2 groups. One group was prescribed 320 mg doses of trimethoprim and 1600 mg doses of sulfamethoxazole twice daily for 7 days, and the other group was prescribed a placebo.

Seven to 14 days after the treatment period, researchers found that about 81% of patients in the trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole group had been cured of their abscess, whereas 74% of those in the placebo group were cured.

Of the 524 patients in the trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole group who adhered perfectly to the prescription, 93% were cured. Of the 533 per-protocol patients in the placebo group, 88% were cured.

“In settings in which MRSA was prevalent, trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole treatment resulted in a higher cure rate among patients with a drained cutaneous abscess than placebo,” researchers concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Talan DA, Mower WR, Krishnadasan A, et al. Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole versus placebo for uncomplicated skin abscess. N Engl J Med. 2016;374:823-832. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1507476.