Exclusion criteria
were superficial skin infections (e.g., impetigo),
skin infection at a body site that requires specialized
management (e.g., perirectal, genital, or
hand infection), a human or animal bite at the
infection site, high fever (oral temperature, >38.5°C
[>38.0°C in children 6 to 11 months of age]),
receipt of immunosuppressive medications or the
presence of an immunocompromising condition
such as diabetes or chronic renal failure, morbid
obesity (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms
divided by the square of the height in meters],
>40), surgical-site or prosthetic-device infection,
and receipt of antibacterial therapy with antistaphylococcal
activity in the previous 14 days. Patients
were ineligible if they lived in a long-term care
facility, had cancer or an inflammatory disorder
that required treatment in the previous 12 months,
or had major surgery in the previous 12 months.
All the inclusion and exclusion criteria are listed
in Table S1 in the Supplementary Appendix, available
with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.
The full protocol and statistical-analysis plan are
also available at NEJM.org.