A total of 524 patients were enrolled (264 in the clindamycin group and 260 in the
TMP-SMX group), including 155 children (29.6%). One hundred sixty patients (30.5%)
had an abscess, 280 (53.4%) had cellulitis, and 82 (15.6%) had mixed infection, defined
as at least one abscess lesion and one cellulitis lesion. S. aureus was isolated
from the lesions of 217 patients (41.4%); the isolates in 167 (77.0%) of these patients
were MRSA. The proportion of patients cured was similar in the two treatment
groups in the intention-to-treat population (80.3% in the clindamycin group and
77.7% in the TMP-SMX group; difference, −2.6 percentage points; 95% confidence
interval [CI], −10.2 to 4.9; P = 0.52) and in the populations of patients who could be
evaluated (466 patients; 89.5% in the clindamycin group and 88.2% in the TMP-SMX
group; difference, −1.2 percentage points; 95% CI, −7.6 to 5.1; P = 0.77). Cure rates did
not differ significantly between the two treatments in the subgroups of children,
adults, and patients with abscess versus cellulitis. The proportion of patients with
adverse events was similar in the two groups