The in vitro activities of nine quinolones (seven fluoroquinolones, nalidixic acid, and acrosoxacin) against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were compared with those of the glycopeptides teicoplanin and vancomycin. MICs against 160 strains of ciprofloxacin-susceptible (MIC, <2.0 ,ug/ml) MRSA and 40 strains of ciprofloxacin-resistant (MIC, .2.0 tig/ml) MRSA were determined. The following MICs for 50% of the strains tested (in micrograms per milliliter) were obtained for ciprofloxacin-susceptible and -resistant strains, respectively: tosufloxacin, 0.06 and 2.0; ofloxacin, 0.25 and 16; ciprofloxacin, 0.5 and 16; pefloxacin, 0.5 and 32; acrosoxacin, 1.0 and >256; enoxacin, 1.0 and 64; fleroxacin, 1.0 and 32; norfloxacin, 2.0 and 64; nalidixic acid, 64 and 512; teicoplanin, 1.0 and 1.0; vancomycin, 2.0 and 2.0. In mutation rate studies using a range of antibiotic concentrations to reflect those achievable in vivo, resistant mutants grew only on plates containing nalidixic acid (rate of mutation to resistance, 10-7 to 10-8) and on plates containing low concentrations of ciprofloxacin, enoxacin, and norfloxacin (rate of mutation to resistance, 10-8 to 10-9). In time-kill studies, 99.9% killing was found within 8 h for all of the quinolones tested (norfloxacin and nalidixic acid were not tested). Teicoplanin and vancomycin were less rapidly bactericidal. For the clinical isolates of ciprofloxacin-resistant MRSA, different levels and patterns of quinolone resistance were found. Generally, cross-resistance among the fluoroquinolones was complete; however, incomplete cross-resistance did occur with the nonfluorinated quinolone acrosoxacin.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was first reported by Jevons in 1961 (14a). Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, these organisms were responsible for sporadic, although sometimes serious, outbreaks of hospital infections (4, 14). In the United States, few outbreaks of hospital infections due to MRSA were reported before 1980; however, since then, MRSA has caused increasing problems in hospitals in the United States (30) and worldwide (31).Resistance of MRSA to methicillin is mediated primarily by production of a unique penicillin-binding protein (PBP 2'); thus, these organisms are regarded as resistant to all P-lactam agents (11). Furthermore, many MRSA strains are resistant to a variety of other antibiotics, including gentamicin, tobramycin, erythromycin, clindamycin, tetracycline, and streptomycin (19). The choices for treatment of infections due to MRSA are few, and in the absence of susceptibility testing data or in serious infections, vancomycin is regarded as the antibiotic of choice for treatment (12). Nalidixic acid, the first quinolone agent to be developed, was active only against enterobacteria and possessed pharmacokinetics which restricted its use to treatment of urinary tract infections. In the 1980s, a new generation of quinolones, the fluoroquinolones, was introduced. These had broad-spectrum bactericidal activity, achieved satisfactory lev...