Clinical use of antimicrobial pharmacodynamic profiles to optimise treatment outcomes in community-acquired bacterial respiratory tract infections: application to telithromycin.

Despite the revolutionary introduction of antibiotic therapy in the post-World War II era, primary care physicians continue to struggle with the issue of optimal treatment strategies for bacterial infection and the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance. The aggressive use of potent agents as first-line therapy maximises the potential for successful eradication of bacterial pathogens and slowing of the development of drug-resistant strains. Therapeutic drug monitoring and quantitative assessment of antibacterial potency are not always feasible in daily practice, but the pharmacodynamic profiles of antibacterials - which integrate pharmacokinetic profiles and microbiological properties - can be used to predict clinical success. Telithromycin possesses pharmacodynamic characteristics that make this novel ketolide an optimal choice for the empirical management of community-acquired respiratory tract infections.