WIN 57273 is bactericidal for Legionella pneumophila grown in alveolar macrophages

The in vitro antimicrobial activity of WIN 57273, a new quinolone antimicrobial agent, was determined for 21 Legionella strains, using broth macrodilution and agar dilution testing methods; ciprofloxacin and erythromycin were tested as well. Three different buffered yeast extract media were used for the agar dilution studies, two of which were made with starch rather than charcoal. Broth macrodilution susceptibility testing was performed with buffered yeast extract broth and two Legionella pneumophila strains. Antimicrobial inhibition of L. pneumophila growth in guinea pig alveolar macrophages was also studied, using a method able to detect bacterial killing. The MICs for 90% of the 21 strains of Legionella spp. grown on buffered charcoal yeast extract medium were 0.125 microgram/ml for WIN 57273, 0.25 microgram/ml for ciprofloxacin, and 1.0 micrograms/ml for erythromycin. These MICs were falsely high, because of inhibition of drug activity by the medium used. Use of less drug-antagonistic, starch-containing media did not support good growth of the test strains. The broth macrodilution MICs for two strains of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 were less than or equal to 0.03 microgram/ml for WIN 57273 and ciprofloxacin and 0.125 microgram/ml for erythromycin. WIN 57273, ciprofloxacin, and erythromycin all inhibited growth of L. pneumophila in guinea pig alveolar macrophages at concentrations of 1 microgram/ml, but only WIN 57273 prevented regrowth or killed L. pneumophila after removal of extracellular antimicrobial agent.