Methods of use of quinolone compounds against atypical upper respiratory pathogenic bacteria

This invention relates, in part, to newly identified methods of using quinolone antibiotics, particularly a gemifloxacin compound against atypical upper respiratory pathogenic bacteria

Preferred embodiments of the invention include, among other things, methods wherein said composition comprises gemifloxacin, or a pharmaceutically acceptable derivative thereof. 
 EXAMPLES The present invention is further described by the following examples. The examples are provided solely to illustrate the invention by reference to specific embodiments. This exemplification's, while illustrating certain specific aspects of the invention, do not portray the limitations or circumscribe the scope of the disclosed invention. All examples were carried out using standard techniques, which are well known and routine to those of skill in the art, except where otherwise described in detail. All parts or amounts set out in the following examples are by weight, unless otherwise specified. 
 Example 1 Bacterial Strains A variety of Legionella were isolated from respiratory tract and environmental sources. Identification of organisms was by standard methods know in the art (for example, see, Washington, C. W. Jr. Legionella. In: Murray et al., eds. Manual of Clinical Microbiology. 6th ed. American Society of Microbiology 1995:533-544). 
 Example 2 Susceptibility Testing MICs were determined by standard 2-fold agar dilution procedure using Buffered Yeast Extract agar (herein “BYE”) (National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards: Methods for antimicrobial susceptibility tests for bacteria that growth aerobically, approved standards M 7-A4. National Committee for Laboratory Standards, Villanova, Pa., 1997). A final innoculum of about 10 4 colony forming units (herein “CFU”) was inoculated onto the BYE containing doubling dilutions of antibiotics (0.004-256 mg/L). Plates were incubated at 35° C. for 48 hours. An MIC was defined as the lowest concentration of antimicrobial that completely inhibited visible growth. Strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and L. Pneumophila ATCC 33152 were included as controls. 
 Example 3 Determination of PAE The in vitro method using the broth technique (Craig, W. A. Antibiotics in laboratory medicine. Williams & Wilkins 1986:515-536) was used to determine the PAE with Buffered Yeast extract (BYE). Each strain was exposed to antimicrobial concentration of four times the MIC. Fresh inoculum (1 ml, final concentration of 10 6 -10 7 CFU/ml) was added to 9 ml of prepared antimicrobial containing medium and to 9 ml of drug-free control medium and incubated at 37° C. for 1-2 hours. Antimicrobial agent was removed by three consecutive centrifugations at 1200×g for 10 minutes. Counts of CFU/ml were performed on all cultures at time zero, before and after washing, and every 1 hour until turbidity develops. The counts of CFU/ml were graphed and the duration of PAE was calculated by equation: PAE&equals; T−C where T is the time required for the count of CFU in the test culture to increase 1 log 10 above the count observed immediately after drug removal, and C is the time required for the count of untreated control culture to increase by 1 log 10 above the count observed immediately after the completion of the same procedure used on the test culture for drug removal. Each reference cited herein is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Moreover, each patent application to which this application claims priority is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.