Advances in the medical management of skin and soft tissue infections.

Abstract

Skin and soft tissue infections are some of the most common infectious disease diagnoses in both inpatient and outpatient settings. With bacterial resistance to antimicrobials growing, decision making on empiric antibiotics is becoming increasingly difficult. Additionally, the most recent guidance from a professional society on the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections was published in 2014 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is now two years old. New antimicrobial agents have been developed and approved for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections since then, and more are in the pipeline. This review summarizes the evidence on treatments that are new or in development and the potential repurposing of old antimicrobials. The clinical utility of these treatments is also discussed.