Description
Staphylococcus aureus is the commonest cause of nosocomial bacteraemia and a common cause of community acquired bacteraemia. Patients present to all specialities, there is inter-disciplinary and regional variation in patient management and mortality is high (20-30% in most series). Early
specialist involvement has been shown to significantly affect outcome for patients with other common disorders such as stroke and myocardial infarction and increasing number of studies appear to indicate the favourable impact of an infectious disease (ID) service. This American study examined the influence of an ID physician on the outcome of S. aureus bacteraemia.
