Background The management of complex orthopedic infections usually includes a prolonged course of intravenous antibiotic agents. We investigated whether oral antibiotic therapy is noninferior to intravenous antibiotic therapy for this indication. Methods We enrolled adults who were being treated for bone or joint infection at 26 U.K. centers. Within 7 days after surgery (or, if the infection was being managed without surgery, within 7 days after the start of antibiotic treatment), participants were randomly assigned to receive either intravenous or oral antibiotics to complete the first 6 weeks of therapy. Follow-on oral antibiotics were permitted in both groups. The primary end point was definitive treatment failure within 1 year after randomization. In the analysis of the risk of the primary end point, the noninferiority margin was 7.5 percentage points. Results Among the 1054 participants (527 in each group), end-point data were available for 1015 (96.3%). Treatment failure occurred in 74 of 506 participants (14.6%) in the intravenous group and 67 of 509 participants (13.2%) in the oral group. Missing end-point data (39 participants, 3.7%) were imputed. The intention-to-treat analysis showed a difference in the risk of definitive treatment failure (oral group vs. intravenous group) of −1.4 percentage points (90% confidence interval [CI], −4.9 to 2.2; 95% CI, −5.6 to 2.9), indicating noninferiority. Complete-case, per-protocol, and sensitivity analyses supported this result. The between-group difference in the incidence of serious adverse events was not significant (146 of 527 participants [27.7%] in the intravenous group and 138 of 527 [26.2%] in the oral group; P = 0.58). Catheter complications, analyzed as a secondary end point, were more common in the intravenous group (9.4% vs. 1.0%). Conclusions Oral antibiotic therapy was noninferior to intravenous antibiotic therapy when used during the first 6 weeks for complex orthopedic infection, as assessed by treatment failure at 1 year. (Funded by the National Institute for Health Research; OVIVA Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN91566927.)

ObjectivesWe describe treatment failure rates by antibiotic duration for prosthetic joint infection (PJI) managed with debridement, antibiotics and implant retention (DAIR).MethodsWe retrospectively collected data from all the cases of PJI that were managed with DAIR over a 5 year period. Surgical debridement, microbiological sampling, early intravenous antibiotics and prolonged oral follow-on antibiotics were used.ResultsOne hundred and twelve cases of PJI were identified. Twenty infections (18%) recurred during a mean follow-up of 2.3 years. The mean duration of antibiotic use was 1.5 years. Failure was more common after arthroscopic debridement, for previously revised joints and for Staphylococcus aureus infection. There were 12 failures after stopping antibiotics and 8 while on antibiotics [hazard ratio (HR) = 4.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4–12.8, P = 0.01]. However, during the first 3 months of follow-up, there were eight failures after stopping antibiotics and two while on antibiotics (HR = 7.0, 95% CI 1.5–33, P = 0.015). The duration of antibiotic therapy prior to stopping did not predict outcome.ConclusionsPJI may be managed by DAIR. The risk of failure with this strategy rises after stopping oral antibiotics, but lengthening antibiotic therapy may simply postpone, rather than prevent, failure.

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Prostatitis is characterized by voiding symptoms and genitourinary pain and is sometimes associated with sexual dysfunction. Up to 25% of men receive a diagnosis of prostatitis in their lifetime, but <10% have a proven bacterial infection. The causes and treatment of nonbacterial prostatitis are largely unknown, but bacterial prostatitis is caused by infection with uropathogens, especially gram-negative bacilli, although infection is sometimes due to gram-positive and atypical microorganisms. Acute bacterial prostatitis is easily diagnosed (by abrupt urogential and often systemic symptoms, along with bacteriuria) and treated (by systemic antibiotic therapy). Chronic bacterial prostatitis is characterized by prolonged or recurrent symptoms and relapsing bacteriuria; diagnosis traditionally requires comparing urinary specimens obtained before with specimens obtained after prostatic massage. Treating chronic bacterial prostatitis requires prolonged therapy with an antibiotic that penetrates the prostate (ie, one with high lipid solubility, a low degree of ionization, high dissociation constant, low protein binding, and small molecular size). We review recent pharmacological and clinical data on treating bacterial prostatitis.