Teicoplanin, a new antibiotic effective against gram-positive bacterial infections of the skin and soft tissues.

Teicoplanin is a new glycopeptide antibiotic chemically related to vancomycin with a similar bactericidal activity against aerobic and anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria but with a longer plasma elimination half-life of 40-100 h allowing a once daily parenteral administration. In an open prospective study, we treated 20 patients with skin and soft tissue infections such as erysipelas, cellulitis, folliculitis and furunculosis with a a success rate of 84%. The peak and trough serum levels of teicoplanin were above the minimal inhibitory concentrations of the bacteria isolated and the therapeutic index measured at the plateau level was between 24 and 146. We observed a moderate increase of the transaminases in 3 patients which returned to normal at the end of treatment. We conclude that this new antibiotic, teicoplanin, is safe and effective in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections. It can be administered once daily and is well tolerated even in long-term therapy.