Comparative susceptibility to penicillin and quinolones of 1385 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates

Abstract

Abstract Antibiotic resistance among Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates has spread rapidly throughout the world since the first description of a strain with diminished susceptibility to penicillin in Australia in 1967. A total of 1385 strains of S. pneumoniae, collected in several centres throughout Austria, were assessed for their sensitivity to moxifloxacin, trovafloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin and lomefloxacin. The MICs were determined using the agar dilution method, according to NCCLS guidelines. Both moxifloxacin and trovafloxacin showed good anti-pneumococcal activity in terms of MIC 50 (both 0.125 mg/L) and MIC 90 (both 0.25 mg/L). Less active, but with similar activity to each other, were ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, each with an MIC 50 of 1 mg/L and an MIC 90 of 2 mg/L. Ofloxacin showed only moderate activity (MIC 50, 1 mg/L; MIC 90, 2 mg/L) and lomefloxacin was the least active compound (MIC 50, 4 mg/L; MIC 90, 8 mg/L). Both moxifloxacin and trovafloxacin at a concentration of ≤ 0.5 mg/L inhibited all of the S. pneumoniae strains tested.