Chromatographically purified vancomycin: therapy of serious infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus and other gram-positive bacteria.

Fourteen patients with serious infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus and other gram-positive bacteria were prospectively treated with chromatographically purified vancomycin in an open-label, nonrandomized study, between December 1986 and June 1987. Five patients were excluded from the evaluation of efficacy. Among the nine evaluable patients, cure was achieved in six patients--a success rate of 67%. One patient had a relapse of osteomyelitis, and cultures of draining pus were positive for oxacillin-resistant S aureus within three weeks after the discontinuation of vancomycin therapy. One patient failed to respond to vancomycin therapy for S aureus-induced endocarditis, meningitis, and osteomyelitis; in another patient, the treatment failed to reverse the course of S aureus septicemia. No serious drug toxicity, for example, nephrotoxicity, was encountered in any patient. One patient (7%) experienced mild ototoxicity. Four patients (29%) had mild phlebitis, two patients (14%) had a transiently positive Coombs' test, and one patient (7%) had a "red neck syndrome" and "pain and spasm syndrome." Chromatographically purified vancomycin is an effective antibiotic in the treatment of serious infections caused by susceptible gram-positive bacteria. Some minor side effects of vancomycin may not be due to impurities in the preparation but rather to the vancomycin itself.