The in vitro activity of sparfloxacin, a new difluorinated quinolone, was evaluated against 857 gram-positive and gram-negative clinical isolates and compared with those of ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, fleroxacin, and lomefloxacin. The MIC of sparfloxacin for 90%o of the members of the family Enterobacteriaceae tested was 0.5 ig/ml (range, 0.06 to 4.0 uig/mI); only for members of the genera Serratia,-Citrobacter, and Providencia were MICs above 1 ug/mL. Some 90% of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were inhibited by 8 ,ug of the drug per ml. The MICs for 90% of Staphylococcus spp. and Enterococcus faecalis were 0.12 and 2 ,ug/ml, respectively. All (100%) Streptococcus pneumoniae strains were inhibited by 0.5 ,ug/ml. The inoculum size had little effect on either the MIC or the MBC of sparfloxacin. An increase in the magnesium concentration from 1.1 to 8.4 mM increased the MIC between 2 and 10 times, depending on the genus tested. Sparfloxacin was less active at pH 5. The antibacterial activity of sparfloxacin against gram-positive bacteria was generally higher than those of the quinolones with which it was compared; against Streptococcus pneumoniae, sparfloxacin was four-and eightfold more active than ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, respectively. The activity of sparfloxacin against gram-negative rods was generally comparable to that of ciprofloxacin except against Enterobacter and Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas cepacia, Xanthomonas maltophiia, and Alcaligenes and Flavobacterium spp., against which sparfloxacin was the most active quinolone.In 1962 Lesher et al. (9) synthesized nalidixic acid, the first urinary tract antiseptic of the quinolone group to be used clinically. In the last decade, more than 200 quinolone derivatives have been synthesized, some with a broad spectrum and improved pharmacology. Nevertheless, some important pathogens such as enterococci, streptococci, Mycobacterium spp., Chlamydia spp., and Mycoplasma spp. are not sufficiently susceptible to some quinolones. Sparfloxacin (AT-4140; Rp 64206), 5-amino-1-cyclopropyl-6,8-difluoro-1,4-dihydro-7-(cis-3,5-dimethyl-1-piperazinyl)-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid, is a new difluorinated quinolone. Its structure is similar to that of ciprofloxacin; however, it has two methyl groups in the piperazinyl ring and an additional fluorine atom at position 8, which, according to Schentag and Domagala (17), enhances its activity against grampositive organisms. Nakamura (13) and others (4,18,19) reported that sparfloxacin has a broad antibacterial spectrum that includes the pathogens mentioned above, which are not sufficiently susceptible to other quinolones. The present in vitro study was designed to establish (i) the antibacterial activity of sparfloxacin compared with those of other quinolones, (ii) the influence of changes in the pH of the culture medium, inoculum size, and Mg2+ concentration on the activity, (iii) the postaiitibiotic effect (PAE), and (iv) the in vitro mutational frequency rate to sparfloxacin resistance in a number of key pathog...