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Cumulative clinical experience from over a decade of use of levofloxacin in urinary tract infections: critical appraisal and role in therapy
Authors Bush L, Chaparro-Rojas, Okeh, Etienne
Published 18 October 2011 Volume 2011:4 Pages 177—189
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IDR.S15610
Review by Single anonymous peer review
Peer reviewer comments 3
Larry M Bush1,2, Fredy Chaparro-Rojas3, Victor Okeh3, Joseph Etienne3
1Charles E Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL; 2University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL; 3Internal Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Affiliated Program at JFK Medical Center, Atlantis, FL, USA
Abstract: The treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs) continues to evolve as common uropathogens increasingly become resistant to previously active antimicrobial agents. In addition, bacterial isolates, which were once considered to be either colonizers or contaminants, have emerged as true pathogens, likely related to the more complex array of settings where health care is now delivered. Even though the reliability of many antimicrobial agents has become less predictable, the fluoroquinolone group of agents has remained a frequent, if not the most often prescribed, antimicrobial therapy for almost all types of UTIs. Levofloxacin has taken its position at the top of the list as one of the most regularly administered fluoroquinolone agents given to patients with a suspected or proven UTI. The authors review the clinical experience of the use of levofloxacin over the past decade and suggest that the use of levofloxacin for the treatment of UTIs, although still fairly dependable, is perhaps not the best use of this important antimicrobial agent.
Keywords: fluoroquinolone, antimicrobial agent, UTI, resistance
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