Shorter is better: The case for short antibiotic courses for common infections in solid organ transplant recipients
Hannah Imlay, Brad Spellberg
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Prolonged antibiotics are associated with toxicity, selection for resistant organisms, and secondary infections such as Clostridioides difficile colitis. Emerging clinical data suggest that short courses of antibiotics can be used for common bacterial infections among immune competent patients, but for many randomized controlled trials (RCTs), immunocompromised patients, including solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs), have been excluded. METHODS: Peer-reviewed publications were identified through PubMed and Embase searches. RESULTS: We review data examining shorter antibiotic courses among immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients and the rationale for use of short antibiotic courses in SOTRs. CONCLUSION: There are known harms associated with antibiotics and, when studied, existing data do not demonstrate harm associated with shorter courses of antibiotics among SOTRs. Furthermore, several RCTs did include some immune compromised patients and found shorter therapy to result in similar clinical efficacy with diminished adverse effects. Shorter antibiotic durations should be considered in SOTRs, and questions of antibiotic duration among SOTRs should be prioritized for study in clinical trials.