Daptomycin in the treatment of invasive Gram-positive bacterial infections in children: personal experience.

AIM

The emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance among Gram-positive pathogens has become troublesome for pediatric patients. Daptomycin is a first-in-its-class cyclic lipopeptide, which can be useful for treatment of these infections in children, but clinical experience is lacking.

METHODS

Retrospective review of medical records of seven hospitalized children who received daptomycin for treatment of invasive Gram-positive bacterial infections at Children's Cardiosurgery of AORNAS Civico-Di Cristina-Benfratelli, Palermo (Italy), from December 2009 to September 2010. Six patients had a congenital cardiomyopathy; only one patient had not any underlying comorbid condition. Bacterial isolates were tested for susceptibility to daptomycin by gradient diffusion method (E-test, Biomerieux).

RESULTS

Seven children received daptomycin. All these children had invasive disease and only one of them was not receiving care in our Intensive Care Unit. Organisms isolated were 2 S. aureus methicillin-resistant; 4 S. Epidermidis methicillin-resistant and 1 E. faecium. Six infections were bloodstream infections and one was a complicated skin and soft tissue infection. All these infections had failed standard empirical antimicrobial therapy and had persistently positive blood cultures and/or fever prior to initiation of daptomycin. Outcomes after the initiation of daptomycin included clearance of blood cultures and defervescence within 72 hours. No drug related adverse events were documented.

CONCLUSION

All our patients improved but two patients died of complications of their pre-existing pathology. Further studies are necessary to assess the pharmacological characteristics, safety and effectiveness of daptomycin in children, but it seems to be promising antimicrobial agent in pediatric patients.