Comparative in-vitro activities of commonly available quinolones and other antibiotics on bacterial isolates in Ibadan, Nigeria.

The 4-quinolones, many of which are now available in Nigeria under different trade names, have a broad spectrum of activity. An evaluation is made of the comparative in-vitro activities of these quinolones and other antibiotics against 125 strains of bacteria commonly isolated from clinical specimens in University College Hospital, Ibadan, by using the Stroke's disc sensitivity method, and MIC estimation. The quinolones showed greater activity than the cephalosprins against Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp. and Escherichia coli, but were found to be equipotent against Pseudomonas spp. the MIC results revealed ciprofloxacin (Ciprotap) as the most active of the quinolones. Though some strains of Klebsiella spp. and Pseudomonas spp. were found to be resistant to all the antibiotics tested, majority of the strains of the gram-negative bacilli from clinical specimens were highly susceptible to all the quinolones. This emphasizes the need to monitor regularly the emergence of resistance associated with the use of antibiotics in the developing countries.