Quinolones: a new class of antimicrobial agents with wide potential uses.

Quinolone antibiotics provide potentially important therapy for many infections that heretofore required extensive hospitalization. Improper use of these agents rapidly can lead to resistance and thereby remove them from the physician's arsenal of antimicrobial compounds. It also is possible that with more extensive use, these drugs will demonstrate adverse reactions that to date are unknown. Attention to how the agents are used can simultaneously avoid the problems of resistance and toxicity.