title: In vitro activity of antimicrobial agents against Legionella isolated from environmental water systems: first results from Turkey.
abstract: We evaluated the in vitro activity of antimicrobial agents against Legionella obtained from hotel and hospital water systems in three different regions of Turkey. Sixty-five Legionella strains (Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 [n=32], L. pneumophila serogroup 1 [n=27], L. pneumophila serogroup 3 [n=2], and Legionella spp. [n=4]) were tested against levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, azithromycin, and rifampicin. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of each antimicrobial agent for these strains was determined by the microdilution method using buffered yeast extract medium supplemented with 0.1% ketoglutarate broth. L. pneumophila ATCC 33152, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 were used as controls. Minimum inhibitory concentration values were in the following ranges: clarithromycin 0.001-0.5 mg/L, azithromycin 0.001-0.5 mg/L, levofloxacin 0.001-0.5 mg/L, ciprofloxacin 0.001-0.125 mg/L, and rifampicin 0.001- 0.5 mg/L. The MIC(90) for rifampicin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and clarithromycin were 0.015, 0.125, 0.06, 0.125, and 0.06 mg/L, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to determine in vitro activities of antimicrobial agents against Legionella species in Turkey. Rifampicin had the lowest MIC(90) value. It would seem that azithromycin and clarithromycin exhibit good activity as well as levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin against Legionella isolated from environmental water systems in Turkey.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. erdoganhaluk@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Haluk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Erdogan
authors.forename: Fusun
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Can
authors.forename: Muge
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Demirbilek
authors.forename: Funda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Timurkaynak
authors.forename: Hande
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arslan
mesh_terms: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D016952:Legionella pneumophila / Q000187:drug effects*; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000382:microbiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D014421:Turkey; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents