In vitro antibacterial activity of norfloxacin compared with eight other antimicrobial agents.

The antibacterial activity of norfloxacin, an organic acid structurally related to nalidixic acid, was compared with that of the oral cephalosporins cefaclor and cephalexin, and with that of nalidixic acid, cinoxacin, amikacin, ampicillin, trimethoprim alone and the combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. Agar dilution studies were performed with a total of 398 clinical isolates of gram-negative bacteria. Norfloxacin was found to be the most active drug studied against each of the different groups of organisms tested. MIC90 values for norfloxacin were as follows: Citrobacter spp., 2 micrograms/ml; Enterobacter spp., 0.13 micrograms/ml; Escherichia coli, 0.06 micrograms/ml; Klebsiella spp., 0.13 micrograms/ml; Proteus spp., 0.06 micrograms/ml; Salmonella spp., 1 microgram/ml; Serratia spp., 0.13 micrograms/ml; and Pseudomonas spp., 2 micrograms/ml. MIC90 values for the other drugs were 4 micrograms/ml or greater and many organisms were totally resistant to one or more of the other drugs (MIC greater than 128 micrograms/ml). Cross resistance between norfloxacin and the related drugs nalidixic acid and cinoxacin was not observed.