1 Depts of Family Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Connecticut, Health Center, Farmington, CT 06032
Dr Barson suggests that vancomycin should be used as empiric therapy for serious systemic and central nervous system Bacillus species infections pending susceptibility test results. This suggestion is based on the recent publication by Weber et al who reported that 54 strains of Bacillus cereus were susceptible to both vancomycin and chloramphenicol and that 35 strains on non-cereus Bacillus species were all susceptible to vancomycin; however, 14% of these 35 strains were resistant to chloramphenicol. Thus, chloramphenicol may be a poor choice for empiric therapy.