Objectives: To determine the susceptibility of southern African strains of Yersinia pestis to novel as well as conventional antimicrobial agents.
Materials and methods: The MICs of 28 strains of Yersinia pestis from a southern African plague focus were determined by agar dilution.
Results: The most active agents were cefditoren and the fluoroquinolones, both conventional and novel. The in vitro activity of macrolides was poor against this member of the Enterobacteriaceae.
Conclusion: Further investigation of the novel quinolones olamufloxacin (HSR 903) and ABT 492 in animal models of plague would seem to be justified.