A Critical Study on the Comparative Analysis of Antibacterial Potency of Six Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Brands Commonly Prescribed in the Treatment of Salmonela typhi Infections in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Typhoid fever is a systemic infection, caused mainly by Salmonella typhi found only in man. In 2010
there were 27 million cases reported, while in 2003 it resulted in about 161,000 deaths. The risk of
death may be as high as 25% without treatment, while with treatment it is between 1% and 4%.
Typhoid fever is treated with antibiotics which kill the bacterium. Comparative analysis of antimicrobial
potency of six common fluoroquinolone antibiotics was done. They were chosen based on their
availability and affordability which includes: Ciprofloxacin, Pefloxacin, Levofloxacin, Norfloxacin,
Ofloxacin and Sparfloxacin, in the treatment of Salmonela typhi infections. Sensitivity test of different
concentrations of the six fluoroquinolones were carried out on the test organism (Salmonella tyhpi)
using agar well diffusion method. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) which indicates the
strength of each of the fluoroquinolones used on the test organism were determined. The
fluoroquinolones attain excellent tissue penetration, kill S. typhi in its intracellular stationary stage in
monocytes/macrophages and achieve higher active drug levels in the gall bladder than other drugs.
The result obtained showed that Pefloxacin had the highest antibacterial strength against the test
organism with MIC of 0.0003, followed by Norfloxacin (0.0006), Ciprofloxacin (0.0010), Levofloxacin
(0.0016), Ofloxacin (0.0042) and Sparfloxacin having the lowest with MIC of 0.0398. The analysis of
variance (ANOVA) showed a significant difference (P<0.05) among the MIC of the six
fluoroquinolones used. Post Hoc Test result indicates a significant of 1.000 among the MIC of the six
fluoroquinolones.