International outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy

On an international basis, outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPA T) varies greatly. There are cultural as well as economic issues which make it different in every country. In general, the duration of hospital stay v aries with the outpatient resources available and the economic base for the m. In some countries, there may not be money available for any intravenous antibiotics, even in the hospital. In addition, there are great differences in outpatient intravenous therapy, with infusion clinics proliferating in China, yet these are scarce in the UK. There is also considerable variation in the use of intramuscular compared w ith intravenous therapies. In Italy, intramuscular ceftriaxone is used more often than intravenous therapy. While ceftriaxone use is high in the US, i ts use is surpassed on a per capita basis by Italy, and it is most interest ing that the rate of antimicrobial resistance is lower in Italy than in mos t other European countries. Whether this relates to outpatient use, parente ral use or other unknown factors is unclear. Obviously further studies are necessary.