Comparative in vitro activity of ciprofloxacin and five other quinoline derivatives against gram-negative isolates

A total of 375 Gram-negative bacterial strains were isolated from midstream urine specimens of the same number of patients affected by urinary tract infections. All bacteria were identified by standard bacteriological methods and their susceptibility to six quinoline derivatives (ciprofloxacin, cinoxacin, norfloxacin, oxolinic acid, pipemidic acid, nalidixic acid) was studied by determining the MICs and MBCs for each compound using a miniaturized dilution broth method in microtitre plates and twofold dilutions of each drug from 256 to 0.12 mcg/ml. Ciprofloxacin, a new quinoline carboxylic acid compound structurally related to nalidixic acid, showed a much higher antibacterial activity against all bacterial strains under examination, including Pseudomonas, than the other compounds, except for norfloxacin. The MIC90 and MBC90 of ciprofloxacin never exceeded 1 mcg/ml with any of the bacterial species; and MBC/MIC ratios were very low, which represents an important clinical advantage. Only norfloxacin showed comparable effectiveness. No bacterial strain showed resistance to the drug and the MIC90 and MBC90 never exceeded 8 mcg/ml.