Resistance situation of oral antibiotics in the Scandinavian countries with special reference to the fluoro-quinolones.

In general, the Scandinavian countries have a rather conservative attitude towards new antimicrobial agents. Our antibiotic policies are based upon many years of clinical and laboratory experiences. It is generally believed, although not always satisfactorily proven, that our relatively restrictive attitude to the use of new as well as of older antimicrobial drugs by one mechanism or another, is a matter of some importance when explaining the relatively low antibiotic resistance profile (ARP) existing in most places in Scandinavia. When a new group of drugs, such as the quinolones, is going to be introduced in the therapeutic armamentarium, the existing ARPs of the microbes actually involved have to be taken into consideration.