The microbiology of moxifloxacin

Moxifloxacin is a new group IV 8-methoxyquinolone. It is slightly less acti ve than ciprofloxacin against enterobacteria and much less effective agains t P. aeruginosa. However, moxifloxacin is clearly better than ciprofloxacin in treating atypical microorganisms and especially anaerobic bacteria and aerobic Gram-positive cocci, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. In recent years there has been an increase in the resistance of some respiratory pathogens to beta-lactam and macrolide antibiotics. Bearing in mind that moxifloxacin is well tolerated, its microbiological properties and pharmacokinetic char acteristics mean that it will undoubtedly be useful in treating certain inf ections, particularly community-acquired respiratory infections, hospital-a cquired respiratory infections caused by aerobic Gram-positive cocci, infec tions caused by anaerobic bacteria and skin infections. Studies have shown that moxifloxacin is effective and well tolerated in all of these condition s. (C) 2000 Prous Science. All rights reserved.