Guidelines for the antibiotic treatment of endocarditis in adults: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

The BSAC Guidelines on Endocarditis were last published in 1998. The Guidelines presented here have been updated and extended to reflect changes in both the antibiotic resistance characteristics of causative organisms and the availability of new antibiotics. Randomized, controlled trials suitable for the development of evidenced-based guidelines in this area are still lacking, and therefore a consensus approach has again been adopted. The Guidelines cover diagnosis and laboratory testing, suitable antibiotic regimens and causative organisms. Special emphasis is placed on common causes of endocarditis, such as streptococci and staphylococci, however, other bacterial causes (such as enterococci, HACEK organisms, Coxiella and Bartonella) and fungi are considered. The special circumstances of prosthetic endocarditis are discussed.