• Ercole Concia.
• Department of Infectious Diseases, Civile Maggiore-Hospital, Bgo Trento, Verona, Italy.
• Infez Med. 2009 Sep 1;17 Suppl 4:64-76.

AbstractTherapeutic strategies in the management of skin and soft tissue infections should take account of different variables: epidemiological trends (community or hospital acquired infections), pathogen or pathogens involved, virulence, seriousness of pathology (possible co-morbidities, knowledge of local epidemiology and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of community and hospital strains. Therapy often should be started promptly, and on an empiric base, once microbiological analysis have been performed, waiting for culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Surgical incision and drainage represent essential therapeutic procedures in the treatment of many complicated skin and soft tissue infections such as abscesses and fasciitis. Gram-positive bacteria and specifically Staphylococcus aureus, are the main cause of such kind of infections. Therefore antistaphylococcal beta-lactams represents a first choice in empirical antimicrobial chemotherapy. Considering high incidence of MRSA in Italian hospitals, treatment of hospital acquired skin and soft tissue infections should be based on glycopeptides combined with third generation cephalosporins, piperacillin-tazobactam, carbapenems or fluoroquinolones. Recently, new drugs (as linezolid, daptomycin, tigecycline) demonstrated good efficacy in the treatment of serious infections caused by multi-drug resistant microorganisms. Most recent guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of skin and soft tissue infections were published in 2005 by Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). In Italy, the multidisciplinary group of Federazione delle Associazioni dei Dirigenti Ospedalieri Internisti (FADOI) published guidelines for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections in Internal Medicine wards in 2005. General approach and methodology in writing test were based on analysis of data from available scientific literature and comparing them with actual Italian epidemiological trends and drug prescribing policy. Considering these guidelines, we updated the newest antimicrobial drugs suggested for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections, such as daptomycin and tigecycline.

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