Emerging concepts in optimizing antimicrobial therapy of septic shock: speed is life but a hammer helps too

Current research suggests that combination antimicrobial therapy where a given pathogen is covered by two or more antibiotics with differing antimicrobial mechanisms may be useful in a subset of critically ill patients, particularly those with septic shock. This paper elucidates the circumstances under which combination therapy may be useful by reinforcing the observation that beneficial effects are noted in critically ill patients with septic shock and, possibly, severe sepsis. Clinicians may wish to consider this approach with such patients.