Bacterial resistance to quinolone antibiotics in Poland

The resistance of 167 pathogenic bacteria of animal origin to quinolones was determined by the disc diffusion method, and by the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test. The highest resistance of Escherichia coli was found to be against nalidixic acid (NA), 49.1% and flumequine (FLU), 38.2%. The sensitivity of the strains were: ciprofloxacin (CIP; 81.8%); enrofloxacin (ENR; 81.8%); norfloxacin (NOR; 80.0%); and pefloxacin (PE; 76.4%). Salmonella spp. showed 100% sensitivity to CIP, ENR, NOR and PE. A high resistance percentage in the cases of: FLU (86.7%); PE (50.0%); and CIP (26.65%) distinguished the Streptococcus spp. The highest percentage sensitivity of Staphylococci was found with three fluoroquinolones: CIP, ENR and NOR, 94.3% each (66 strains). The studies did not indicate that a total cross-resistance might occur between the examined quinolones.