1268 - Dalbavancin for the Treatment of Infections due to Staphylococcus aureus

Background: Dalbavancin is a lipoglycopeptide antibiotic active against gram-positive organisms. Its extended half-life allows for weekly dosing that can last 4 to 6 weeks with 2 doses. Although approved for treating skin and soft tissue infections, use for more complicated infections is appealing, particularly when daily intravenous antibiotics are impractical. S aureus is the most common cause of complex infections for which dalbavancin is considered at our institution, so we sought to better understand its use.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to describe dalbavancin use at our institution for infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus. We identified all patients ≥18 years who received ≥1 dose of dalbavancin. Infectious disease faculty reviewed charts for clinical characteristics and outcomes of the infections.

Results: Fifty-two patients with S. aureus infections (60% MRSA) were treated with at least a partial course of dalbavancin. Twenty-seven (52%) had a history of IV drug use (IDU) and the most common infections were bone and joint infection in 51% and bacteremia in 40% (Table 1). The most common dosing regimen was 1500 mg x 1 in 55% or 1500 mg weekly x 2 in 25% (Table 2). The most common reasons for use of dalbavancin were history of IDU in 48% and lack of a safe home environment in 21%. Suppressive oral antibiotics for the primary infection were prescribed to 3 patients after completing dalbavancin (2 received for other indications). Clinical outcomes include 15% of patients lost to follow-up, readmission due to infection recurrence or dalbavancin adverse effects in 12%, and overall infection recurrence or relapse by day 90 in 31% (Table 3). There were no severe dalbavancin-related adverse drug events.Table 1. Patient and Disease Characteristics
Table 2. Dalbavancin Use Characteristics
Table 3. Clinical Endpoints


Conclusion: While our results suggest dalbavancin is well tolerated, questions about relapse rates in the treatment of complicated S. aureus infections remain. Further research is needed to evaluate clinical outcomes for dalbavancin compared to standard of care antibiotics and to better elucidate whether relapses were related to true antibiotic failure versus other complexities of the S. aureus infections.