Italian survey on comparative levofloxacin susceptibility in 334 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

A national survey on susceptibility patterns of 334 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from intensive care units and hematology and oncology wards from 1 3 Italian hospitals compared the in vitro activity of levofloxacin, an inje ctable oral fluoroquinolone, to those of ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, ceftazid ime, imipenem, amikacin, and gentamicin, Amikacin and imipenem had the best susceptibility profiles. The activity of levofloxacin was superior to thos e of the other quinolones and was comparable to that of ceftazidime. The ef fect of levofloxacin in vitro on P. aeruginosa clinical isolates suggests t hat further clinical investigations are warranted.