New guidelines OK less antibiotics for hospital-acquired, ventilator-associated pneumonia

Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) - which account for 20 to 25 percent of hospital-acquired infections - should be treated with shorter courses of antibiotics than they typically are, according to new guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and American Thoracic Society (ATS) and published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The recommendation of seven or fewer days of antibiotics for most of these infections reflects a change from previous guidelines to ensure safe and effective treatment while limiting the development of antibiotic resistance.