How would you manage a patient with remote placement of endovascular aortic graft who develops S. aureus bacteremia, has rapid clearance and improvement on treatment, normal TEE, and contrast-enhanced CT without evidence of graft infection, in light of the IDSA/ESCMID 2026 consensus statement on SAB?

The question posted by a colleague for Mednet asks about management of a patient with remote placement of an endovascular aortic graft who develops S. aureus bacteremia (SAB), has rapid clearance and improvement on appropriate antibiotics, a normal TEE, and contrast-enhanced CT with no evidence of graft infection.

The IDSA/ESCMID convened a panel to evaluate risk stratification, diagnostic evaluation, and management in patients with SAB and published their recommendations in Sept 2026. The panel...

In such a scenario, I would do the treatment as recommended by the new IDSA guidelines (which are 14 days from culture conversion, since you have no evidence based on the testing done of a deep-seated infection). After that, given the presence of vascular graft material, I would do surveillance blood cultures in a couple of weeks and also follow the patient closely, and educate them on signs and symptoms of recurrence. It would be helpful in this scenario to know if a source of the bacteremia wa...