Enoxacin: worldwide in-vitro activity against 22451 clinical isolates

A worldwide multicentre study involving 31 centres in eight countries was conducted to compare the in-vitro activity of enoxacin with that of other currently available antibiotics. Enoxacin was active against virtually all of the species of Enterobacteriaceae tested (MIC90 less than or equal to 0.25-2 mg/l). It was also effective at inhibiting Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC90 = 2 mg/l; n = 3540), Staphylococcus aureus and epidermidis (MIC90 = 2 mg/l; n = 2635 and 837 resp.), Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (MIC90 = 4 mg/l; n = 260), Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Haemophilus influenzae (both MIC90 less than or equal to 0.25 mg/l). The MIC90 for enoxacin against streptococci ranged from 8 to 32 mg/l. Comparison of data from Canada, West Germany, U.K., South Africa and New Zealand showed the MICs for enoxacin to be generally consistent throughout the world. The only exception was for Citrobacter freundii where the MIC90 was significantly higher in the U.K. than in West Germany (P less than 0.05 Mann Whitney U Test). Against susceptible species the activity of enoxacin was generally greater than that of ampicillin, gentamicin and the cephalosporins. Because of the prevalence of resistance to these drugs, there appears to be a continued need for new antibiotics with differing mechanisms of action.