In vitro antimicrobial activities of new quinolone antibiotics against Mycoplasma pneumoniae]

The antimicrobial activities against Mycoplasma pneumoniae of new quinolones (temafloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, enoxacin, and norfloxacin) and of tetracyclines and macrolides as controls were compared. Among new quinolones, temafloxacin, ofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin were more active than enoxacin and norfloxacin against fifty strains of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, giving MIC50 and MIC90 significantly lower than those of the latter two, by the agar-dilution method. The three more active antibiotics in the above assay were then determined for MICs and MBCs by the broth-dilution method. The MICs of every antibiotic except erythromycin determined by both the methods were very similar each other. The MICs of erythromycin determined by the broth-dilution method were ten-times higher than those determined by the agar-dilution method. Temafloxacin and ofloxacin gave MBCs only about four-times higher than MICs, whereas ciprofloxacin, minocycline, erythromycin and josamycin gave MBCs as much as 15 to 1,000-times higher than MICs. From the MICs and MBCs determined by the two assay methods, it is apparent that temafloxacin and ofloxacin, and to a less extent ciprofloxacin, have more potent mycoplasmacidal activities than do macrolides and tetracyclines.