Cipro (ciprofloxacin) and resistance to Bacteria

Cipro (ciprofloxacin) is a broad spectrum antibiotic from fluroquinolone group.

Cipro acts bactericidally due to inhibiting the enzyme DNA gyrase leading to degradation in DNA replication and synthesis of bacterial proteins. Cipro is highly effective against bacteria which are sensitive to amoniglycosides, penicillins, cephalosporins, tetracyclines.

Ciprofloxacin acts both on multiplying microorganisms and those being in resting phase. However, in spite of its high effectiveness, some of the microorganisms are resistant to Ciprofloxacin. Aerobic gram positive microorganisms are resistant to ciprofloxacin: scherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Citrobacter spp., Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Serratia marcescens, Hafnia alvei, Edwardsiella tarda, Providencia spp., Morganella morganii, Vibrio spp., Yersinia spp.). The following Gram-negative aerobic microorganisms are resistance to Cipro as well: Haemophilus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Moraxella catarrhalis, Aeromonas spp., Pasteurella multocida, Plesiomonas shigelloides, Campylobacter jejuni, Neisseria spp.). Intracellular pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila, Brucella spp., Chlamydia trachomatis, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium kansasii, Mycobacterium avium are also resistant to the medication.

Taking Ciprofloxacin can spur germs to mutate so that future bacterial infections become untreatable. During the last decades a dramatic increase in bacterial strains multiresistant to antibiotics, particularly Cipro, has been reported. This increase has led to the occurrence of incurable bacterial infections with a fatal outcome, and a particularly serious problem in connection with hospital-acquired infections.

For example, Clostridium difficile has become one of the most common acquired organisms in hospitals and longterm care institutions. The organism typically infects patients whose normal intestinal flora has been disturbed by the administration of a broad-spectrum antibiotic such as Cipro. The diarrhea and inflammatory colitis associated with infection represent a serious medical and surgical complication leading to increased morbidity and mortality, and prolonging hospital stays by an average of nearly three weeks. This is especially true for the elderly and for patients with serious underlying diseases who are the most likely to develop the infection. Diarrhea associated with C. difficile represents a major economic burden to the healthcare system, conservatively estimated at $3-6 billion per year in excess hospital costs in the US alone.

The emergence of "antibiotic resistance" is a result of the overwhelming use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine. High rates of fluoroquinolone resistance have been reported in many countries.30 For example, in Asia Cipro can no longer be used to treat gonorrhea, because the disease has become resistant to the drug.

While the FDA approved Cipro as the first-line treatment against anthrax in August, 2000, a few months later, in October, 2000, it asked Bayer to remove Baytrilits equivalent for animals.

The FDA has also proposed banning the fluoroquinolones, which chicken and turkey farmers have given to birds in their water since 1995 to help shield the animals from infection. The agency acted after linking the drugs to a large increase in Campylobacter bacteria immune to the medications. Nearly 18 percent of one common strain that infects humans is now immune to the very same drugs which were considered the last line of defense against the infection.

Campylobacter is the leading bacterial cause of food poisoning in the United States. Typically contracted through raw or undercooked meat, the germs afflict more than 2 million people and kill some 500 each year in the US, according to the CDC. While Abbot voluntarily withdrew its version of the antibiotic (SaraFlox), Bayer decided to challenge the FDA. The company had the option to comply with the proposed ban or seek a hearing to determine whether such a move was justified. Bayer refused to comply with the ban, a move that kicked off a lengthy process that could take years. Meanwhile Bayer gets to poison the world, and make huge profits from it.

According to one report, the American Medical Association has advised its members to prescribe Cipro very cautiously, citing the fact that the worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance poses future dangers worse than the anthrax attacks of today