[New treatment perspectives for community acquired infections]

Respiratory and urinary tract infections, of great importance both for their high incidence and for their potential severity (particularly in the lower respiratory tract), represent one of the problems that doctors have to deal with in clinical practice. In outpatients the antibiotic prescription for such pathologies is most often empirical, and needs to consider the local epidemiology, including the incidence of antibiotic resistance, as well as the characteristics of drugs to be prescribed. From this point of view, the lack of drugs with a wide antibacterial spectrum, covering both classical and atypical bacteria, is now overcome by new fluoroquinolones, as levofloxacin. Its characteristics, such as the antibacterial activity extended to Gram positive (particularly S. pneumoniae), the pharmacokinetic profile allowing once daily administration and proper switch therapy, and safety, have been confirmed in wide international clinical studies and make levofloxacin an innovative drug with great potential