Sheldon-area historical tornado activity is below South Carolina state average. It is 32% smaller than the overall U.S. average. On 4/9/1998, a category F3 (max. wind speeds 158-206 mph) tornado 40.7 miles away from the Sheldon place center killed 2 people and injured 17 people and caused $3 million in damages.
Similar results have been found in other studies [17] [18]. Based on these reports we have defined hard-to-heal ulcers in this study as venous leg ulcers with an initial area of 10cm2 or greater and a duration of six months or more.
No previous randomized controlled trials have directly compared shorter versus longer durations of antimicrobial treatment in these patients. The investigators will conduct a multi-center randomized concealed allocation trial of shorter duration (7 days) versus longer duration (14 days) antibiotic treatment for critically ill patients with bacteremia admitted to ICU. Eligible, patients will be randomized to either 7 days or 14 days of adequate antimicrobial treatment. The selection of type, dose and route of antibiotics will be at the discretion of the treating physicians, but the duration of treatment (7 versus 14 days) will be determined by randomization group.