You don’t have too! Although “bacteriostatic” antibiotics have traditionally been regarded as inferior to “bactericidal” antibiotics in the treatment of serious infections, a 2018 “myth busting” systemic literature review1 concluded that bacteriostatic antibiotics are just as effective against a variety of infections, including pneumonia, non-endocarditis bacteremia, skin and soft tissue infections and genital infections; no conclusion can be made in regards to endocarditis or bacterial meningitis, however, due insufficient clinical evidence.1-3
Interestingly, most of the studies included in the same systemic review showed that bacteriostatic antibiotics were more effective compared to bactericidal antibiotics.1 So, for most infections in hospitalized patients, including those with non-endocarditis bacteremia, the choice of antibiotic among those that demonstrate in vitro susceptibility should not be based on their “cidal” vs “static” label.
Such conclusion should not be too surprising since the definition of bacteriostatic vs bactericidal is based on arbitrary in vitro constructs and not validated by any available in vivo data. In addition, static antibiotics may kill bacteria as rapidly as cidal antibiotics in vitro at higher antibiotic concentrations.3
Another supportive evidence is a 2019 study finding similar efficacy of sequential intravenous-to-oral outpatient antibiotic therapy for MRSA bacteremia compared to continued IV antibiotic therapy despite frequent use of bacteriostatic oral antibiotics (eg, linezolid, clindamycin and doxycycline). 4
References
- Wald-Dickler N, Holtom P, Spellberg B. Busting the myth of “static vs cidal”: as systemic literature review. Clin Infect Dis 2018;66:1470-4. https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/66/9/1470/4774989
- Steigbigel RT, Steigbigel NH. Static vs cidal antibiotics. Clin Infect Dis 2019;68:351-2. https://academic.oup.com/cid/article-abstract/68/2/351/5067395
- Wald-Dickler N, Holtom P, Spellberg B. Static vs cidal antibiotics; reply to Steigbigel and Steigbigel. Clin Infect Dis 2019;68:352-3. https://academic.oup.com/cid/article-abstract/68/2/352/5067396?redirectedFrom=fulltext
- Jorgensen SCJ, Lagnf AH, Bhatia S, et al. Sequential intravenous-to-oral outpatient antbiotic therapy for MRSA bacteraemia: one step closer. J Antimicrob Chemother 2019;74:489-98. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30418557
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