Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of sparfloxacin, relative to other oral antibiotics against 1,125 bacterial isolates from 10 medical centers in Brazil

A multicenter study was carried out in order to compare the in vitro activity of sparfloxacin, to ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, cephalexin, cefuroxine and azithromycin, against 1,125 microorganisms recently isolated from clinical specimens, most of them representative of respiratory tract infections. Sparfloxacin demonstrated potent action and was more active than the ß-lactan agents and azithromycin against most of the bacterial strains tested. Sparfloxacin was more potent (96 percent and 95 percent sensitivity, with MIC90 of 0.19µg/mL and 0.5µg/mL, respectively) than the order antimicrobial agents tested against the Enterobacteriaceae family (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). It was found to be equivalent in activity to ciprofloxacin (96 percent and 91 percent sensitivity and MIC90 of o.25 and 0.75µg/mL, respectively). Sparfloxacin was also found to be very active against the most fastidious microorganisms commonly associated to respiratory tract infections such as the penicillin-susceptible and resistant Haemophilus influenzae (MIC90 0.032µg/mL) and non ß-lactamase producing Moraxella catarrhalis (MIC90 0.5µg/mL).