An intravenous catheter was considered the source of bacteremia if the catheter had been in place for at least 72h, culture of a quantitative catheter specimen yielded selleckchem DAPT secretase more than 100 colonies of S. aureus, or culture of a specimen of purulent drainage from the insertion site grew S. aureus [17]. Endovascular source was defined as aneurysms and infection due to vascular grafts or other endovascular devices. Urinary tract infection was considered if the patient had urinary symptoms, and S. aureus (>105 colony-forming units per millilitre) was identified as the sole pathogen from urine. Osteomyelitis was defined if S. aureus was identified, as the sole pathogen from bone tissue or blood culture yielded S. aureus, and the image study (MRI or radionuclide scanning) reveal areas of bone inflammation.

Soft tissue infection was considered in the case of patients who had a pure culture of S. aureus from a tissue or drainage specimen from the affected site and signs of infection. Endocarditis was considered in patients with S. aureus bacteremia and 1 or more of the following characteristics: surgical or autopsy findings consistent with endocarditis, echocardiographic evidence of valvular vegetation, and the presence of septic emboli [18].As bacteremia due to endocarditis is different from other bacteremia in terms of severity of infection and duration of therapy, MRSA bacteremic patients with endocarditis were excluded in this study. The timing of initiating antibiotic therapy and the dose (vancomycin 15�C20mg/kg every 12h or teicoplanin 6�C12mg/kg per day) of GP were at the discretion of the patient’s physician.

For evaluation of the clinical effects of the timing for initiating GP therapy for MRSAB, the included patients were categorized as two groups: received GP at the interval between before a preliminary BC report indicating the growth of SLO and the onward 24 hours or received GP 24h after a preliminary BC report indicating the growth of SLO. The primary outcome of interest was 14-day overall or infection-related mortality, which was defined as overall or infection-related mortality occurring during the hospital admission in the time period within Cilengitide 14 days since sampling blood for culture.2.3. Statistical AnalysisCategorical variables were compared using the Chi-squared test or Fisher’s exact test. Continuous variables were compared using t-test or Mann-Whitney U test between different groups. Demographic and clinical differences between the deceased and survived patients in comparisons were assessed using univariate analyses. To identify independent risk factors for the 14-day overall or infection-related mortality of MRSA bacteremic patients, variables with aPvalue of ��0.