Gs. Perdikaris et al., SUCCESSFUL SINGLE-DOSE TEICOPLANIN PROPHYLAXIS AGAINST EXPERIMENTAL STREPTOCOCCAL, ENTEROCOCCAL, AND STAPHYLOCOCCAL AORTIC-VALVE ENDOCARDITIS, Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 41(9), 1997, pp. 1916-1921
Teicoplanin is a glycopeptide antibiotic that is administered both int
ramuscularly and intravenously. It has a prolonged half-life and a les
s toxic profile in comparison to those of vancomycin. The efficacy of
a single dose of teicoplanin (18 mg/kg of body weight given intramuscu
larly) for the prevention of endocarditis due to Streptococcus oralis,
Enterococcus faecium, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) was evaluated after applying the rabbit model. Vancomycin at a
single dose of 30 mg/kg given intravenously was used as the comparati
ve agent for the prevention of endocarditis due to MRSA and E. faecium
, while ampicillin at a single dose of 40 mg/kg given intravenously wa
s used as the comparative agent for the prevention of endocarditis due
to S. oralis. Rabbits in the teicoplanin group were infected at 1 h p
ostdosing with similar or equal to=10(7) CFU of each strain. Rabbits i
n the other groups were infected at 0.5 h postdosing with similar or e
qual to 10(7) CFU of S. oralis (ampicillin group) or E. faecium and MR
SA (vancomycin group). All rabbits were sacrificed 5 days later. Teico
planin and vancomycin protected the animals challenged with E. faecium
by 87.5 and 50%, respectively, and protected the animals challenged w
ith MRSA by 100 and 92%, respectively. Teicoplanin and ampicillin prot
ected the animals challenged with S. oralis by 100 and 77%, respective
ly. Prevention of endocarditis by teicoplanin was likely to be due to
a prolonged inhibition of bacterial growth by the sustained supra-MICs
. It is concluded that teicoplanin is very effective in preventing exp
erimental streptococcal, enterococcal, and staphylococcal endocarditis
and may be an attractive alternative antibiotic in patients allergic
to beta-lactams, especially in the outpatient setting.