Treatment of experimental chronic osteomyelitis due to Staphylococcus aureus with teicoplanin.

Teicoplanin was used alone in the treatment of experimental osteomyelitis due to Staphylococcus aureus in rabbits. Treatment with 60 mg of teicoplanin/kg of body weight twice a day for 28 days failed to sterilize any infected rabbit bones. A possible explanation for the failure of teicoplanin may be that its in vitro activity against the infecting strain of S. aureus was substantially less under anaerobic conditions (at partial pressures of oxygen analogous to those in osteomyelitic rabbit bones) than under aerobic conditions.