Members of the health care community are extremely concerned about the potential for systemic antibiotics to increase bacterial resistance, which may result in additional infections that do not respond to current antibiotics. There is also much discourse over the potential of topical antibiotic treatment of eye infections leading to bacterial resistance outside of the eye as a result of overflow or drainage.

In a clinical study by Alcon Laboratories, Inc., investigative sites enrolled children between the ages of eight months and 12 years who were diagnosed with bacterial conjunctivitis, as well as unaffected children who served as control subjects. The subjects had microbiological swab specimens collected at day one, day eight and day 42, and seven swabs were collected at each visit from the tested sites.

Microbiologists processed swab specimens from the eye onto non-selective aerobic and anaerobic media to recover bacteria. They processed swab specimens from the cheeks, nostrils and throat onto non-selective and selective media.

The selective media recovery was to detect changes in the fluoroquinolone-susceptibility of bacteria found in subjects with eye infections compared to changes occurring in healthy children. The microbiologists isolated 2,985 bacteria and tested them for resistance against 20 different antibiotics.

The results of this study show that treating conjunctivitis with Vigamox (moxifloxacin, Alcon) does not appear to lead to fluoroquinolone resistance for three bacteria (S. pneumoniae, S. aureus and H. influenzae) in the eye or other areas of the body.¹

1. Marshall B, Cupp G, Foster K, et al. Moxifloxacin treatment of conjunctivitis: microbial effects beyond the eye. ICAAC 2009. Poster C2-103.