A prospective randomized study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of a low dose (5 mg/kg/day bid) vancomycin compared with a low dose (5 mg/kg/day once daily) teicoplanin therapy to prevent CONS sepsis in VLBW-infants. All infants received this therapy after their 4th day of life or after an eventual therapy of early onset sepsis as long as an i.v. line was in place or 1500 g body weight. Twenty-seven infants were treated with vancomycin (birth weight 1103 +/- 286 g, gest. age 28.8 +/- 1.9 weeks), 28 with teicoplanin (birth weight 1133 +/- 226 g, gest. age 29.04 +/- 2.2 weeks). The infants were observed for clinical and laboratory signs of sepsis. On day 4 of therapy and every 3rd day during therapy serum creatinine levels, tracheal aspirates, stool cultures and vancomycin/teicoplanin peak and trough levels were obtained. We could not detect any case of blood culture positive sepsis and 1 case of suspected sepsis (neg. blood cultures) in both groups, as compared with a former CONS sepsis rate of 24% in our institution's VLBW infants without antibiotic prophylaxis. Nine patients in the vancomycin and five in the teicoplanin group had tracheal colonization with CONS. In both groups peak and trough levels of antibiotics were in the bactericidal range. Serum creatinine was not normal in both groups. We conclude that teicoplanin is preventing CONS sepsis as well is vancomycin. The minimal inhibitory concentrations of both antibiotics against grampositive isolates in units using this strategy have to be observed carefully to detect emerging resistance.

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