Ofloxacin

Ofloxacin is an antibiotic useful for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. When taken by mouth or injection into a vein this includes pneumonia, cellulitis, urinary tract infections, prostatitis, plague and certain types of infectious diarrhea. Other uses, along with other medications, include multidrug resistant tuberculosis. An eye drop may be used for a superficial bacterial infection of the eye and an ear drop may be used for otitis media when there is a hole in the ear drum.Ofloxacin is used in the treatment of bacterial infections such as:In general, fluoroquinolones are well tolerated, with most side-effects being mild to moderate. On occasion, serious adverse effects occur. Common side-effects include gastrointestinal effects such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, as well as headache and insomnia.As noted above, under licensed use, ofloxacin is now considered to be contraindicated for the treatment of certain sexually transmitted diseases by some experts due to bacterial resistance.There is limited information on overdose with ofloxacin. Current advise for the management of an acute overdose of ofloxacin is emptying of the stomach, along with close observation, and making sure that the patient is appropriately hydrated. Hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis is of only limited effectiveness. Overdose may result in central nervous system toxicity, cardiovascular toxicity, tendon/articular toxicity, and hepatic toxicity as well as renal failure and seizure. Both seizures and severe psychiatric reactions have, however, been reported to occur at therapeutic dosage.The bioavailability of ofloxacin in the tablet form is approximately 98% following oral administration reaching maximum serum concentrations within one to two hours. Between 65% and 80% of an administered oral dose of ofloxacin is excreted unchanged via the kidneys within 48 hours of dosing. Therefore, elimination is mainly by renal excretion. However, four to eight percent of an ofloxacin dose is excreted in the feces. This would indicate a small degree of biliary excretion as well. Plasma elimination half-life is approximately 4 to 5 hours in patients and approximately 6.4 to 7.4 hours in elderly patients.Ofloxacin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that is active against bothGram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. It functions by inhibiting DNA gyrase, a type II topoisomerase, and topoisomerase IV, which is an enzyme necessary to separate (mostly in prokaryotes, in bacteria in particular) replicated DNA, thereby inhibiting bacterial cell division.Ofloxacin is a second-generation fluoroquinolone, being a broader-spectrum analog of norfloxacin, and was synthesized and developed by scientists at Daiichi Seiyaku.Ofloxacin for systemic use is available as tablet (multiple strengths), oral solution (250 mg/mL), and injectable solution (multiple strengths). It is also used as eye drops and ear drops. It is also available in combination with ornidazole.