COMPARATIVE IN-VITRO ACTIVITY OF SPARFLOXACIN AND 8 OTHER ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS AGAINST CLINICAL ISOLATES OF NONTUBERCULOUS MYCOBACTERIA

The in-vitro activity of sparfloxacin and eight other antimicrobial ag ents against 64 non-tuberculous mycobacteria (non-MAI) (40 rapidly gro wing and 24 slowly growing) was compared with those of ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, amikacin, tobramycin, cefoxitin, imipenem, clarithromycin a nd doxycycline. Sparfloxacin presented the same activity as ciprofloxa cin, being highly active against rapidly growing mycobacteria and show ing good in-vitro activity against slowly growing mycobacteria. Amikac in was very active against rapidly growing mycobacteria and clarithrom ycin presented good activity against all mycobacteria tested. These re sults suggest that sparfloxacin is a valid agent to be considered in t he treatment of Mycobacterium spp. infections.