Short term antibiotic strategy (episode control strategy) for infection control

Short term antibiotic strategy (episode control strategy) for infection control

2011 CID--Strategies for Reduction in Duration of Antibiotic Use in Hospitalized Patients

On the basis of published RCTs, shorter treatment durations seem just as likely as more prolonged, traditional regimens to cure most common bacterial infections.

2011 Critical Care--Duration of antibiotic therapy for bacteremia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

No significant differences in clinical cure, microbiologic cure and survival were detected among bacteremic patients receiving shorter versus longer duration antibiotic therapy. An adequately powered randomized trial of bacteremic patients is needed to confirm these findings.

• The optimal duration of treatment for bloodstream infections is understudied.

• Available data from bacteremic subgroups of prior randomized controlled trials suggest that shorter duration therapy (not more than 7 days) may be as effective as longer-duration therapy in achieving clinical cure, microbiologic cure, and survival among most patients with bloodstream infections.

• A large dedicated randomized trial of treatment duration for bacteremia is urgently needed.

2015 NEJM--Trial of Short-Course Antimicrobial Therapy for Intraabdominal Infection control

In patients with intraabdominal infections who had undergone an adequate source control procedure, the outcomes after fixed-duration antibiotic therapy (approximately 4 days) were similar to those after a longer course of antibiotics  (approximately 8 days) that extended until after the resolution of physiological abnormalities