We thank Drs Mclaren et al for their interest in our study.

First, we chose vancomycin as we wished to use an antistaphylococcal drug that had been studied in cardiac surgical patients. Additional rifampicin was used in an attempt to prevent resistance developing. Clearly the strategy was successful as we did not see any increase in resistant organisms during, or for the 2 years after, the study. We are interested in their statement that no difference resulted from a change in their antibiotic prophylaxis. This statement was unpublished and is not publicly available. They have chosen to …