Drug Reduces Risks of Life-Saving Dialysis
An antibiotic appears effective in reducing the chances of kidney dialysis patients contracting a potentially fatal blood infection, according to Veterans Administration Hospital researchers in Pittsburgh.
They found that rifampin sharply reduces the incidence of infections by staphylococcus aureus bacteria, the second most common cause of death among the 65,000 Americans who undergo dialysis to have impurities in their blood removed.
Such infections can enter into the bloodstream of dialysis patients through the opening in their skin for the dialysis tube, causing severe blood infections that are fatal in about 10% of such cases.
The study, published in the current New England Journal of Medicine, involved 22 dialysis patients who were given rifampin and 26 who received nothing. Only two patients who received rifampin developed blood infections while 12 patients who received nothing developed infections. The researchers recommend that dialysis patients receive rifampin for five days every three months.
