Bactericidal activities against M. leprae Hoshizuka-4 of ofloxacin, moxifloxacin and garenoxacin measured in mice by the proportional bactericidal method.

aAll drugs were administered by gavage as a single dose.bM. leprae bacilli were considered to have multiplied if the harvest from a footpad yielded ≥105 acid-fast bacilli. When the maximum inoculum was 5×103 bacilli per footpad, a proportion of viable M. leprae as small as 0.006% could be measured.cDerived from the following equation: % viable M. leprae = 0.69/50% infectious dose [22].dp value (comparison with control group).eCalculated from the comparison of the proportions of viable organisms between untreated controls and the treated group.fthe high number of dead mice is due to an accidental problem of water supply that occurred during the experiment.