Comparative in vitro activity of gemifloxacin against gram-positive and gram-negative clinical isolates in Argentina.

The in vitro activity of gemifloxacin against 1,000 clinical isolates of 147 Streptococcus pneumoniae (115, penicilin susceptible; 26, intermediate penicillin-resistant and 6, penicillin-resistant), 127 Hemophilus influenzae (109, beta lactamasa non-producer; 18, beta lactamase producers), 95 Streptococcus pyogenes (6, azytromycin-resistant), 84 Moraxella catarrhalis (79, beta lactamase producers), 110 Staphilococcus aureus (89, methicillin-susceptible; 21, methicilin-resistant), 98 Eenterococcus faecalis and 339 Enterobacteriacea, (recovered from patients with respiratory tract infection; skin and soft tissue infection and urinary tract infection), was compared with the activities of four fluorquinolones and five other antimicrobial agents. Of the quinolones tested, gemifloxacin was the most potent against Streptococcus pneumoniae, including penicillin intermediate and resistant strains. Mic(90) values obtained for gemifloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin and trvafloxacin were 0.03, 2, 2, 1 and 0.25 mg/L respectively. Gemifloxacin was 16 fold more potent than ciprofloxacin against methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and 32 fold more potent than ciprofloxacin against Streptococcus pyogenes. When tested against Hemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Enterobacteriaceae, all the quinolones showed similar activity. Our results demonstrate that gemifloxacin has similar activity than the other quinolones tested against Gram-negative organisms and is considerably more potent against Gram-positive organisms.