Daptomycin plus Fosfomycin, a Synergistic Combination in Experimental Implant-Associated Osteomyelitis Due to Methicillin- Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Rats

The aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of daptomycin and fosfomycin in experimental chronic implant-associ-ated osteomyelitis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Infection was induced in the tibiae of rats by the insertion of a bacterial inoculum (1 to 5 108 CFU/ml) of a clinical MRSA isolate and a titaniumwire. Four weeks after infec-tion, each animal was assigned to a treatment group: daptomycin monotherapy at 60 mg/kg of body weight once daily (n 10), fosfomycin monotherapy at 40 mg/kg once daily (n 10), or daptomycin and fosfomycin combined at 60 mg/kg and 40mg/kg, respectively, once daily (n 9). Ten animals were left untreated. After a 3-week treatment period, the animals were euthanized, and the infected tibiae and implants were processed for quantitative bacterial cultures. The bacterial cultures from bones were positive for MRSA in all animals in the untreated group, the daptomycin group, and the fosfomycin group, with median bacterial counts of 2.34 106 CFU/g bone, 1.57 106 CFU/g bone, and 3.48 102 CFU/g bone, respectively. In the daptomycin-fosfomy-cin group, 6 out of 9 animals were positive for MRSA, with a median count of 7.92 CFU/g bone. Bacterial cultures derived from the titaniumwires were negative in the fosfomycin- and daptomycin-fosfomycin-treated groups. Based on bacterial counts in bones, treatment with daptomycin-fosfomycin was statistically significantly superior to all that of the other groups (P< 0.003). Fosfomycin was superior to daptomycin and no treatment (P< 0.0001). No development of resistance was observed in any treat-ment arm. The combination of daptomycin and fosfomycin demonstrated synergism against MRSA in experimental implant-associated osteomyelitis