Choosing an Antibiotic for Skin Infections

Since the mid-1990s, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become the predominant pathogen responsible for suppurative skin infections (i.e., furuncles, carbuncles, and skin abscesses) in the United States and in many other countries. Emergency department visits for skin abscesses have increased during this period, as MRSA has become endemic in the community, but a similar increase in visits for cellulitis (i.e., infectious inflammation of the skin without a drainable collection of pus) has not occurred.1,2 The microbiologic characteristics of cellulitis are less well defined because material for culture is not readily available. Although S. aureus is the organism most frequently . . .