Table 1

Characteristics of patients and salient feature of their infections

Patient	Age	Gender	Isolate source	Infection	Cofactors	Initial therapy	Completion therapy	Outcome
CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; IV, intravenous; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus.
1	4 y	M	CSF	CSF and extraventricular drain	Previous cranial surgery; recent intraventricular bleed	IV cefotaxime and IV vancomycin for 2 days	IV cloxacillin for 6 days; extraventricular drain removed	Well
2	18 y	F	Renal abscess	Post-surgical abscess (renal transplant)	Renal transplant; immunosuppression; SLE; abscess also yielded viridans streptococci	IV ampicillin and IV cefazolin for 2–3 days	IV cloxacillin for 8 days; oral cephalexin for 2 weeks; external drain left in place until drainage subsided	Well; no further drainage
3	10 wk	M	Blood and mitral valve	Endocarditis	Congenital heart and other multiple physical anomalies	IV cefotaxime for 2 days and IV vancomycin for 10 days	IV cloxacillin and gentamicin for 10 days; oral cloxacillin for 3 weeks	Well
4	18 y	F	Blood	? endovascular infection but unknown focus	Spastic quadriplegia	IV vancomycin for 7 days	IV cloxacillin for 4 weeks	Well
5	12 y	M	Blood	Haemodialysis line	Chronic renal failure; Henoch–Schönlein purpura	2 doses IV vancomycin	IV cloxacillin for 10 days	Well
6	6 mth	M	CSF and ventriculo-peritoneal shunt	CSF	Central nervous system shunt; previous arachnoid cyst	IV vancomycin for 2 days; IV cefotaxime for 3 days	IV cloxacillin for 11 days; shunt revised near completion of cloxacillin therapy	Well