The current Infectious Disease Society of America and American Thoracic Society (IDSA/ATS) guidelines recommend linezolid or vancomycin as an empiric treatment for methicillin-resistant
It is a prospective, randomized single-center controlled trial planned to be conducted in the Azienda Consorziale Policlinico di Bari. The research project will have a duration of 12 months following the approval of the Ethical Committee of the University of Bari. The minimum sample size is 38 patients per group, for a total of 76 subjects, calculated assuming a standard deviation of 10, a power of 90%, a type I error of 5% and a 10% drop-out rate. We will enroll eligible patients ensuring their evidence-based management according to guidelines, we will perform a nasal swab for MRSA in patients in the experimental group and discontinue the empirical anti-MRSA therapy if the nasal swab result is negative. For both arms, follow-up visits will be on day 2, 5, 7, 14, and 28 relatives to the enrollment visit (day 0). Data will be collected on the clinical course of pneumonia and laboratory tests.
Our study will provide evidence on the duration (in days) of the antibiotic intake as a primary outcome of the study. Secondary outcome measures include in-hospital mortality, the length of stay and days of mechanical ventilation (in VAP), and the incidence of adverse events related to the administration of the therapy.