Lysostaphin: an enzymatic approach to staphylococcal disease. 3. Combined lysostaphin-methicillin therapy of established staphylococcal abscesses in mice.

Serious staphylococcal infections continue to pose therapeutic problems despite the availability of antimicrobial agents that are effective against staphylococci in vitro. Much suggests that this relates, in part, to the nature of the basic lesion in staphylococcal disease. The abscess is the hallmark of staphylococcal disease, and many therapeutic failures appear to result from the inability of available antimicrobials to eliminate staphylococci residing in high titers in abscess lesions. Although antibiotics do penetrate abscess cavities in high concentrations,' it has been shown that these agents are relatively ineffective against sluggishly multiplying bacteria found in such lesions."8