Frequency of occurrence and daptomycin susceptibility rates of Gram-positive organisms causing bloodstream infections in cancer patients.

We evaluated the pathogen frequency and the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Gram-positive bacteria causing infections in cancer patients. We also compared the antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates from cancer patients to those from non-cancer patients and evaluated the activity of the novel lipopeptide daptomycin against these isolates. A total of 1,222 Gram-positive isolates were collected (one per patient) from bloodstream infections (BSI) in cancer patients at 33 United States (USA) medical centers in 2002-2006 and susceptibility tested by the broth microdilution method. Frequency of occurrence and susceptibility patterns of strains from cancer patients were compared to those from non-cancer patients collected in the same hospitals (10,684 strains). Staphylococcus aureus (39.2%) ranked first among Gram-positive pathogens from cancer patients, followed by Enterococcus spp. (32.2%) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS; 20.4%). Daptomycin was active against 99.8% of Gram-positive strains collected from patients with cancer at USA hospitals, but vancomycin was only active against 87.6% of strains and showed limited activity against Enterococcus spp.(61.4% susceptible). Only three daptomycin non-susceptible isolates were detected, all with MIC values at one doubling dilution above the susceptible breakpoint. These results indicate that daptomycin has an appropriate spectrum and potency to be used for empirical coverage of Gram-positive infections (especially BSI) in cancer patients in the hospitals surveyed in the USA.