Lomefloxacin is an effective treatment of experimental bacterial keratitis

Purpose. Lomefloxacin was evaluated as a potential topical therapy for bact erial keratitis. Methods. Lomefloxacin was compared with ciprofloxacin in d ifferent rabbit keratitis models. A total of 216 corneas were infected with Staphylococcus aureus (ciprofloxacin-susceptible and - resistant), Strepto coccus viridans, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serr atia marcescens and were treated with lomefloxacin (0.3%), ciprofloxacin (0 .3% Ciloxan), and the control phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), respectively . The data were analyzed statistically comparing the decrease in the number of recovered viable bacteria. Results. Compared with PBS-treated control c orneas, the colony counts for all bacterial isolates were significantly red uced (p < 0.05) after topical treatment with either lomefloxacin or ciprofl oxacin. For Gram-positive bacteria, lomefloxacin and ciprofloxacin were equ ally effective. For Gram-negative bacteria, lomefloxacin, while effective, was less so than ciprofloxacin under experimental conditions (p < 0.05). Co nclusion. Our data, using multiple bacterial keratitis models, suggest that lomefloxacin is promising for therapy of bacterial keratitis. Further clin ical studies are needed to expand its use for keratitis therapy.