Flucloxacillin treatment of Staphylococcus aureus meningitis

Abstract

In this paper, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of flucloxacillin treatment of meningitis caused by methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. We identified 33 patients with meningitis due to S. aureus; eight had community-acquired meningitis and 25 had neurosurgical meningitis. Six of the eight patients with community-acquired meningitis were cured. Eighteen of the 22 patients treated with flucloxacillin were cured without relapse (86%, 95%CI 65-97%) and their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures were sterile after a median of 3 days of treatment. The cure rate for 12 patients who also received an additional antibiotic at the outset of treatment was 75% (95%CI 43-95%). This was not different to the cure rate for the ten patients who received flucloxacillin alone 90% (95%CI 56-100%). We conclude that flucloxacillin is an effective treatment for meningitis caused by S. aureus.