ABSTRACT
Blood-stream pathogens were investigated between 2005 and 2009 in 262 patients with septicaemia in Maiduguri Metropolis, Nigeria to evaluate trends in fluoroquinolones activities against them. Blood samples were cultured in an enriched nutrient agar while susceptibilities tests were performed using the disc diffusion techniques.Staphylococcus aureus, the predominant pathogen accounted for 57.6% and peaking in 2007 with 26.5%. Salmonella spp (overall: 20.2%) infectivity increased from 2006-2008 by 15% but Klebsiella bacteraemia (14.9%) decreased by 20.7% from 2006-2008. Bacteraemia caused by Escherichia coli (7.3%) was the least. The S. aureus sensitivity to ciprofloxacin decreased by 25% between 2005 and 2007 while ofloxacin steady decrease from 2005 to 2008 by 33% showed significant correlation (P<0.05). Ciprofloxacin activities against norfloxacin-resistant and pefloxacin-resistant S. aureus (74.5% and 75% respectively) are both significantly different (P<0.005) from ofloxacin (27.7% and 37.5% respectively) but 92%, 81% and 78% of nalidixic acid-resistant Klebsiella spp are sensitive to ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and pefloxacin respectively. The ofloxacin’s activities against E. coli were superior to ciprofloxacin with 50%, 69% and 94% of nalidixic acid-resistant E. coli being sensitive to pefloxacin, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin respectively. However all ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli are ofloxacin-sensitive. The study found occurrence of continuous and significant loss in activities of most fluoroquinolones against S. aureus and E. coli but while ciprofloxacin indicated high activities against S. aureus and Klebsiella bacteraemia, ofloxacin was superior against E. coli and Salmonella bacteaemia than other agents.