Further experience with augmentin in the treatment of skin infections.

Thirty-two patients with skin infections were treated with Augmentin, a combination of amoxycillin with the beta-lactamase inhibitor clavulanic acid. These infections were primary skin sepsis (7), infected eczema (11), infected trauma (10) and leg ulcers (4). The majority of cases were caused by amoxycillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus either alone or in combination with Streptococcus pyogenes. Thirty patients (94%) responded to treatment with only one withdrawal (for side effects). Side effects were limited to nausea (9%) diarrhoea (9%) and rash (3%). No patient with diarrhoea showed evidence of Clostridium difficile toxin production in the stools. Augmentin appears to be a safe, useful, effective antibiotic for the treatment of skin infections in general practice and in hospital. It may prove of particular value when mixed infections of penicillin-resistant staphylococci and Streptococcus pyogenes are present.