Such a standard would reasonably include prompt (minutes to hours) access to medical and surgical care and cardiac follow- up should complications develop. All of the medications men- tioned in the Tables in this publication are for the intravenous route of administration unless otherwise specified. An excep- tion would be cases in which a drug is known to be 100% bioavailable when given orally, such as ciprofloxacin. Bacteremia generally resolves within several days after appropriate therapy has begun. S aureus bacteremia, however, may persist for a longer time than streptococcal bacteremia, and it may be present for 3 to 5 days with -lactam anti- staphylococcal therapy and for 5 to 10 days with vancomycin therapy. Additionally, IE caused by S aureus that is frequently associated with CVC and bacteremia may not be controlled until the catheter is removed. In a 2005 report, 12% of chil- dren with S aureus bacteremia were shown to have IE (using the modified Duke criteria75 ), and in 73% of those children with bacteremia, there was a central intravascular device and multiple positive blood cultures.107 The repetition of blood cultures daily until they are sterile would allow assessment of the adequacy of treatment and document the cessation of bac- teremia. Additional blood cultures performed after comple- tion of antibiotic treatment may be considered, but this might result in isolation of a contaminant.108 Table 7 is modeled after guidelines that will be published by the AHA for treatment of IE in adults.109 The dosages and, in some cases, the preferred antibiotic drugs are specific for children. Data on effectiveness of antibiotic drugs for IE in children generally come from reviews of experience. 