Treatment of pediatric Gram-positive multidrug-resistant infections

SummaryGram-positive organisms are the most common cause of bacterial infections in infants, children, and adolescents, accounting for 80% of community-acquired and 60% of hospital-acquired bacterial infections. Antimicrobial treatment for infants and children is largely empirical in both the outpatient and hospital settings, despite emerging resistance patterns. Effective antimicrobial treatment from a pharmacological perspective relies on pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and pharmaceutical determinants. Pediatric patients present an additional challenge in selecting appropriate antimicrobial treatment for a specific pathogen because growth from infancy to sexual maturity results in profound changes in antibiotic disposition. Utilizing carefully generated pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and pharmaceutical data, tools exist to select the appropriate antimicrobial agent for treatment of Gram-positive infections in pediatric patients.