Therapy for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

To the Editor: In the study by Fowler et al. (Aug. 17 issue), 1 the standard therapy for Staphylococcus aureus infection is not a homogeneous entity. One cannot compare a new drug (daptomycin) with a mixture of two regimens (vancomycin or an antistaphylococcal penicillin) when the first regimen is reported to be considerably inferior to the other. 2 , 3 Although Table 2 of the article lists success rates according to the susceptibility of S. aureus to methicillin, a breakdown in success rates according to the receipt of vancomycin or an antistaphylococcal penicillin is lacking. Patients with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) infections could . . .