In order to determine the comparative efficacy of vancomycin, teicoplanin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and linezolid against
methicillin- and ciprofloxacin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus, each agent was tested against 65 genetically different strains using the microbroth dilution method. All of the isolates
were typed using the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction to exclude multiple isolates
of epidemic clones. Susceptibility testing revealed that all of the isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and teicoplanin.
Linezolid exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) levels ranging from 1 to 4 mg/l (MIC90, 4 mg/l). The MICs of moxifloxacin
and levofloxacin ranged from 0.01 to 8 mg/l (MIC90, 8 mg/l) and 0.25 to 32 mg/l (MIC90, 16 mg/l), respectively. Thus, linezolid
is active against methicillin- and ciprofloxacin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus, whereas moxifloxacin may need to be administered at a dose higher than recommended in order to successfully treat serious
infections.