The rise of fluoroquinolone resistance: fact or fiction

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have been available since the 1980s when ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin were licensed. Structural revisions of the quinolone molecule have provided new compounds that were well suited to the treatment of upper and lower community-acquired respiratory tract infections, having good activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae. Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before the pneumococcus developed effective resistance against these new agents. There are populations of fluoroquinolone-resistant S. pneumoniae and, more worryingly, many of these strains are also resistant to penicillin and to macrolides. Surveillance studies such as PROTEKT (Prospective, Resistant Organism Tracking and Epidemiology for the Ketolide Telithromycin) can provide an early warning system and, with the provision of global surveillance on a local level, can assist in the selection of empirical antibiotic treatment. The new ketolide antibiotic, telithromycin, has excellent activity against the major community-acquired respiratory pathogens (including atypical/intracellular organisms), and has the advantage of retaining its activity against strains of S. pneumoniae that are resistant to penicillin, macrolides and fluoroquinolones.