Daptomycin in the Treatment of Persistent Bacteremia With Invasive Complications Caused by a Small Colony Variant of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in an Orthopedic Patient

An orthopedic patient with rheumatoid arthritis was successfully treated for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and prosthetic knee joint infection. Later, he developed persistent bacteremia with invasive complications caused by a small colony variant of methicillin-resistant S. aureus. His successful antimicrobial therapy included daptomycin for 74 days. He later died of recurrence of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteremia and sepsis, which were unrelated to the small colony variant.