[Activity of new fluoroquinolones against clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii]

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen associated with numerous nosocomial infections. In recent years it has shown extraordinary ease in developing resistance to most antimicrobial agents, which is a serious problem as it makes these infections difficult to treat. We determined the in vitro activity of eight quinolones, five betalactam agents and colistin in 160 clinical isolates of A. baumannii. In general, we observed a high rate of resistance to the quinolones (90%), excluding clinafloxacin (25%), and to ampicillin-sulbactam (61.25%) and imipenem (50%). Colistin is the agent with least resistance (13.125%), although its toxicity limits its therapeutic use. Clinafloxacin may be a good option to treat A. baumannii infections, especially in cases of therapeutic failure with other antimicrobial agents.