[In vitro antibiotic susceptibility to fluoroquinolones].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria recovered from cultures of ocular infections in the Fundación Oftalmológica de Santander - Clínica Carlos Ardila Lulle (FOSCAL).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective descriptive study of a series of registries of cultures of samples from ocular surfaces and intraocular fluids from the OCULAB-FOSCAL laboratory in Floridablanca (Colombia) made between January and December of 2007. Antibiotic sensitivity screening by the method of Kirby-Bauer with impregnated Sensi-Discs™ of determined antibiotic concentrations was performed.

RESULTS: A total of 352 samples were studied: 160 from conjunctiva, 150 from cornea and 42 from intraocular fluids. Of the total of the samples more than one microorganism was recovered 45.65% of the samples. Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria were identified in 78.7 and 18.4%, respectively. Resistance to gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin was observed in 6.3, 8.9, 33.2 and 35.6%, respectively, of Gram positive bacteria. Resistance to gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin was also observed in 7.4, 16.7, 16.7%and 25.9%, respectively, of Gram negative bacteria. The overall bacterial resistance (Gram positive and Gram negative) to moxifloxacin was 10.15%, and to gatifloxacin it was 6.46%, being which showed a statistically significant difference (P<.05).

CONCLUSIONS: In our study the development of bacterial resistance to fourth generation fluoroquinolones was demonstrated in ocular samples. However, lower levels of resistance to fourth generation fluoroquinolones compared with that of third and second generation were found, particularly to Gram positive. Gatifloxacin showed lower resistance levels than moxifloxacin. Nevertheless, interpretation of this superiority must be made with caution in the clinical field, since other factors, like tissue penetration and in vivo activity, must be taken into account.