AUTHOR REPLY
Reply to “Minimizing Antibiotic Misuse through Evidence-Based Management of Outpatient Acute Respiratory Infections” Jennifer L. Schroeck,a Christine A. Ruh,a John A. Sellick, Jr.,a,b Michael C. Ott,c Arun Mattappallil,a,d Kari A. Mergenhagena VA of Western New York Healthcare System Infectious Disease Department, Albany, New York, USAa; University at Buffalo School of Medicine, Buffalo, New York, USAb; Erie County Medical Center Pharmacy Department, Buffalo, New York, USAc; East Orange VA, East Orange, New Jersey, USAd
W
e thank Sanchez et al. (1) for their comments on our paper (2) and apologize for the confusion as to the definitions used in that study. The time frame of the retrospective chart review was 2009 to 2011. We chose to assess appropriateness of antibiotics based on criteria available at the time of prescribing, rather than on those currently available. As stated in that paper, the rapid antigen detection test for group A Streptococcus did not become readily available at the Veterans Administration in Western New York until late 2011. The guidelines from professional organizations, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Cochrane Collaboration, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, were published in 2012 to 2015 (3-5). We agree that by today’s standards, assuming that practice habits did not change with updated recommendations, the numbers presented here would be underestimated. The definitions in our paper reflect data that were available in 2009 to 2011 and by no means reflect the additional knowledge gained in recent years. It would be invaluable to repeat the study since these updated guidelines were published and to determine if antimicrobial stewardship has a sizeable impact on outpatient prescribing. 1. Sanchez GV, Fleming-Dutra KE, Hicks LA. 2015. Minimizing antibiotic use through evidence-based management of outpatient acute respiratory infections. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 59:6673– 6673.
aac.asm.org
Citation Schroeck JL, Ruh CA, Sellick JA, Jr. Ott MC, Mattappallil A, Mergenhagen KA. 2015. Reply to “Minimizing antibiotic misuse through evidence-based management of outpatient acute respiratory infections.” Antimicrob Agents Chemother 59:6674. doi:10.1128/AAC.01756-15. Address correspondence to Kari A. Mergenhagen, [email protected]. This is a response to a letter by Sanchez et al. (doi:10.1128/AAC.01709-15).
REFERENCES
6674
2. Schroeck JL, Ruh CA, Sellick JA, Jr, Ott MC, Mattappallil A, Mergenhagen KA. 2015. Factors associated with antibiotic misuse in outpatient treatment for upper respiratory tract infections. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 59:3848 –3852. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AAC.00652-15. 3. Shulman ST, Bisno AL, Clegg HW, Gerber MA, Kaplan EL, Lee G, Martin JM, Van Beneden C. 2012. Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and management of group A streptococcal pharyngitis: 2012 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis 55:1279 – 1282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/cis847. 4. Ahovuo-Saloranta A, Rautakorpi UM, Borisenko OV, Liira H, Williams JW, Jr, Mäkelä M. 2014. Antibiotics for acute maxillary sinusitis in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014:CD000243. 5. Rosenfeld RM, Piccirillo JF, Chandrasekhar SS, Brook I, Kumar KA, Kramper M, Orlandi RR, Palmer JN, Patel ZM, Peters A, Walsh SA, Corrigan MD. 2015. Clinical practice guideline (update): adult sinusitis executive summary. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 152:598 – 609. http://dx .doi.org/10.1177/0194599815574247.
Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. doi:10.1128/AAC.01756-15
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
October 2015 Volume 59 Number 10
Reply to “Minimizing Antibiotic Misuse through Evidence-Based Management of Outpatient Acute Respiratory Infections” Jennifer L. Schroeck,a Christine A. Ruh,a John A. Sellick, Jr.,a,b Michael C. Ott,c Arun Mattappallil,a,d Kari A. Mergenhagena VA of Western New York Healthcare System Infectious Disease Department, Albany, New York, USAa; University at Buffalo School of Medicine, Buffalo, New York, USAb; Erie County Medical Center Pharmacy Department, Buffalo, New York, USAc; East Orange VA, East Orange, New Jersey, USAd
W
e thank Sanchez et al. (1) for their comments on our paper (2) and apologize for the confusion as to the definitions used in that study. The time frame of the retrospective chart review was 2009 to 2011. We chose to assess appropriateness of antibiotics based on criteria available at the time of prescribing, rather than on those currently available. As stated in that paper, the rapid antigen detection test for group A Streptococcus did not become readily available at the Veterans Administration in Western New York until late 2011. The guidelines from professional organizations, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Cochrane Collaboration, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, were published in 2012 to 2015 (3-5). We agree that by today’s standards, assuming that practice habits did not change with updated recommendations, the numbers presented here would be underestimated. The definitions in our paper reflect data that were available in 2009 to 2011 and by no means reflect the additional knowledge gained in recent years. It would be invaluable to repeat the study since these updated guidelines were published and to determine if antimicrobial stewardship has a sizeable impact on outpatient prescribing. 1. Sanchez GV, Fleming-Dutra KE, Hicks LA. 2015. Minimizing antibiotic use through evidence-based management of outpatient acute respiratory infections. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 59:6673– 6673.
aac.asm.org
Citation Schroeck JL, Ruh CA, Sellick JA, Jr. Ott MC, Mattappallil A, Mergenhagen KA. 2015. Reply to “Minimizing antibiotic misuse through evidence-based management of outpatient acute respiratory infections.” Antimicrob Agents Chemother 59:6674. doi:10.1128/AAC.01756-15. Address correspondence to Kari A. Mergenhagen, [email protected]. This is a response to a letter by Sanchez et al. (doi:10.1128/AAC.01709-15).
REFERENCES
6674
2. Schroeck JL, Ruh CA, Sellick JA, Jr, Ott MC, Mattappallil A, Mergenhagen KA. 2015. Factors associated with antibiotic misuse in outpatient treatment for upper respiratory tract infections. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 59:3848 –3852. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AAC.00652-15. 3. Shulman ST, Bisno AL, Clegg HW, Gerber MA, Kaplan EL, Lee G, Martin JM, Van Beneden C. 2012. Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and management of group A streptococcal pharyngitis: 2012 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis 55:1279 – 1282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/cis847. 4. Ahovuo-Saloranta A, Rautakorpi UM, Borisenko OV, Liira H, Williams JW, Jr, Mäkelä M. 2014. Antibiotics for acute maxillary sinusitis in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014:CD000243. 5. Rosenfeld RM, Piccirillo JF, Chandrasekhar SS, Brook I, Kumar KA, Kramper M, Orlandi RR, Palmer JN, Patel ZM, Peters A, Walsh SA, Corrigan MD. 2015. Clinical practice guideline (update): adult sinusitis executive summary. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 152:598 – 609. http://dx .doi.org/10.1177/0194599815574247.
Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. doi:10.1128/AAC.01756-15
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
October 2015 Volume 59 Number 10
