Norfloxacin: its potential in clinical practice.

The in vitro spectrum and potency of norfloxacin against both aerobic gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, its limited activity against anaerobes, and the apparent difficulty organisms have in acquiring resistance to it, have provided a rationale for the clinical development of this oral fluoroquinolone antimicrobial agent. The clinical experience with norfloxacin as treatment for a variety of urinary tract infection syndromes, uncomplicated gonococcal infection, and diarrheal disease, and as prophylaxis of infection in neutropenic patients with cancer, is reviewed. Norfloxacin appears at least equivalent to standard regimens for the treatment of acute urinary tract infections; however, long-term studies are needed to define its role in the treatment of recurrent urinary infections. Initial studies of norfloxacin treatment of uncomplicated gonococcal infection and bacterial gastroenteritis are also promising, and in neutropenic patients, continuous norfloxacin prophylaxis has been shown to reduce the incidence of gram-negative infections. Further prospective evaluation is required to confirm these findings.