Choice of effective antibacterials. Why fluoroquinolones?

Summary.

The aim – to explore the level of resistance to quinolines of nosocomial strains isolated from patients hospitalized in surgical hospitals in different regions of  Ukraine.

Object and methods. Investigated 87507 nosocomial strains (including: S. aureus – 41901 strain, Streptococcus spp. – 9904, E. faecalis – 5041, E. coli – 12516; Enterobacter – 5720, Klebsiella – 4112 and P. aeruginosa – 8313), isolated from patients hospitalized during 2008–2009 in 97 surgical departments multidisciplinary hospitals of 25 regions of Ukraine and Kyiv and Sevastopol. Sensitivity of strains studied to 8 antimicrobial class quinolines – ofloxacin, levofloxacin, lomefloxacin, moxifloxacin, gatifloxacin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and pefloxacin.

Results and discussion. Resistance to fluoroquinolones found in (22,9 ± 0,1)% of nosocomial strains studied, including (24,4 ± 0,11)% gram-positive and (19,8 ± 0,15)%  gram-negative microorganisms. The most active against nosocomial strains tested were levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, ofloxacin and gatifloxacin. Moderate resistance was observed to lomefloxacin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and pefloxacin.

Keywords: fluoroquinolones, antibiotic resistance, nosocomial infections, surgical hospitals.