Low frequency of bacterial resistance to enoxacin in vitro and in experimental pneumonia.

The tendency for bacteria to develop resistance to enoxacin (Cl-919, AT-2266), a new oxyquinolone derivative, was investigated in vitro and in vivo. The mutation frequencies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp., and Haemophilus influenzae to enoxacin, norfloxacin, nalidixic acid, tobramycin, cephalexin, cefotaxime, ampicillin, azlocillin, oxacillin, and ticarcillin were determined by plating large numbers of organisms onto antibiotic-containing agar. Enoxacin resistance developed infrequently. For example, the mutation frequency of Ps. aeruginosa in the presence of enoxacin was 1 in 2.8 X 10(9) cells as compared to 1 in 1.1 X 10(6) for nalidixic acid. The increase in MIC after serial transfer through increasing concentrations of enoxacin ranged from 8-fold for Ps. aeruginosa and Staph. aureus to 256-fold for H. influenzae. Rats with chronic Ps. aeruginosa pneumonia were given subtherapeutic doses of enoxacin daily for ten weeks. Two rats were sacrificed weekly and the homogenized lungs were cultured on agar containing 5 mg/l of enoxacin and on antibiotic-free agar. No organisms resistant to 5 mg/l of enoxacin were recovered. No increase in the minimum inhibitory concentration of enoxacin for the infecting organism was seen.