The Diagnostic Dilemma of Severe Staphylococcal Infections

As the growth of medical knowledge becomes more complex, the hazard arises that the clinician may lose touch with basic principles of the medical sciences. A paper in this issue of the ANNALSby Woodley and Hall (1) reports on the management of the difficult problem of severe staphylococcal infections with vancomycin. Before an effective program of management of this often fatal disease can be started with confidence, the clinician requires accuracy of diagnosis. These serious infections present a challenging problem to modern medicine in diagnosis and management needed to reduce the fatality rate and expense of prolonged stay in...