Thwaites GE, et al. - The proposition explored herein was that adjunctive rifampicin would reduce bacteriologically confirmed treatment failure or disease recurrence, or death, by enhancing early Staphylococcus aureus killing, sterilising infected foci and blood faster and reducing the risks of dissemination and metastatic infection. The inference drawn was that adjunctive rifampicin did not yield any overall benefit over standard antibiotic therapy in adults with S. aureus bacteraemia.