A MULTINATIONAL EUROPEAN SURVEY ON THE IN-VITRO ACTIVITY OF RUFLOXACIN AND OTHER COMPARATIVE ANTIBIOTICS ON RESPIRATORY AND URINARY BACTERIAL PATHOGENS

The antibacterial activity of rufloxacin was confirmed against a large number of respiratory and urinary tract pathogens collected in five E uropean countries. In terms of both MIC(90) values and percentages of susceptible isolates found, this new quinolone showed useful in-vitro activity against Mycoplasma catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae and Kl ebsiella pneumoniae, with a large proportion of Staphylococcus aureus also covered, while, as expected Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptoc occus pyogenes were not included in its antibacterial spectrum. Ruflox acin was comparable with the other antibiotics against these pathogens with the exception of streptococci. Against these microorganisms, bet a-lactams were the most active agents. Against the urinary pathogens t he in-vitro activity of rufloxacin is similar to that of norfloxacin a lthough this latter drug is more active in terms of MIC(90) values and in percentages of strains inhibited. In many cases more isolates were susceptible to the remaining comparator agents than to rufloxacin. Ho wever, there were no significant differences between the numbers of mi croorganisms inhibited by the various drugs and rufloxacin. The findin gs of this survey do not seem to modify the general picture which emer ged in previous studies and further confirms its useful spectrum in di fferent geographic settings.