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Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Ramping up two key antibiotics didn't breed superbugs. An 8-year study at a large academic medical center found that dramatically increasing daptomycin and linezolid use did not lead to clinically significant resistance in Staphylococcus or Enterococcus bacteria. Resistance rates stayed stable or even declined — a reassuring finding for antibiotic stewardship programs.
Concern about fueling antibiotic resistance often limits how freely clinicians prescribe powerful drugs like daptomycin and linezolid. But a new 8-year study suggests those concerns may be overstated — at least for gram-positive bacteria.
Researchers at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital analyzed over 19,000 Staphylococcus and Enterococcus isolates from 2016 to 2024. After the hospital relaxed prescribing restrictions between 2019 and 2021 — favoring linezolid for skin and respiratory infections and daptomycin for bloodstream infections — use of both drugs surged. Yet resistance rates didn't follow.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: These findings offer clinicians and stewardship programs a confidence boost — broader use of daptomycin and linezolid may be sustainable without triggering resistance, potentially improving outcomes for serious gram-positive infections like MRSA and VRE.
