• Dafna Yahav, Erica Franceschini, Fidi Koppel, Adi Turjeman, Tanya Babich, Roni Bitterman, Ami Neuberger, Nesrin Ghanem-Zoubi, Antonella Santoro, Noa Eliakim-Raz, Barak Pertzov, Tali Steinmetz, Anat Stern, Yaakov Dickstein, Elias Maroun, Hiba Zayyad, Jihad Bishara, Danny Alon, Yonatan Edel, Elad Goldberg, Claudia Venturelli, Cristina Mussini, Leonard Leibovici, Mical Paul, and Bacteremia Duration Study Group.
• Infectious Diseases Unit, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Hospital, Petah-Tikva.
• Clin. Infect. Dis. 2019 Sep 13; 69 (7): 1091-1098.

BackgroundGram-negative bacteremia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Data to guide the duration of antibiotic therapy are limited.MethodsThis was a randomized, multicenter, open-label, noninferiority trial. Inpatients with gram-negative bacteremia, who were afebrile and hemodynamically stable for at least 48 hours, were randomized to receive 7 days (intervention) or 14 days (control) of covering antibiotic therapy. Patients with uncontrolled focus of infection were excluded. The primary outcome at 90 days was a composite of all-cause mortality; relapse, suppurative, or distant complications; and readmission or extended hospitalization (>14 days). The noninferiority margin was set at 10%.ResultsWe included 604 patients (306 intervention, 298 control) between January 2013 and August 2017 in 3 centers in Israel and Italy. The source of the infection was urinary in 411 of 604 patients (68%); causative pathogens were mainly Enterobacteriaceae (543/604 [90%]). A 7-day difference in the median duration of covering antibiotics was achieved. The primary outcome occurred in 140 of 306 patients (45.8%) in the 7-day group vs 144 of 298 (48.3%) in the 14-day group (risk difference, -2.6% [95% confidence interval, -10.5% to 5.3%]). No significant differences were observed in all other outcomes and adverse events, except for a shorter time to return to baseline functional status in the short-course therapy arm.ConclusionsIn patients hospitalized with gram-negative bacteremia achieving clinical stability before day 7, an antibiotic course of 7 days was noninferior to 14 days. Reducing antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated gram-negative bacteremia to 7 days is an important antibiotic stewardship intervention.Clinical Trials RegistrationNCT01737320.© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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