A simplified regimen for treatment of skin and soft tissue infections.

Clinical responses were nearly identical in a controlled double-blind study in which 131 patients with skin or soft tissue infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus received a cephalosporin antibiotic (cephradine) given twice (70 patients) or four times daily (61 patients). Satisfactory responses were obtained in approximately 95 percent of patients treated with either regimen. Eradication of S. aureus occurred within four days in 64 percent of patients in each group. These results provide critical support for the theory that antibiotics administered twice daily are as effective as the same total doses administered three or four times a day. The simplified twice daily schedule should be advantageous in obtaining patient compliance.