HWN Suggests

Chloramphenicol: the good, the bad, and the “beware”

As we see more and more infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, we have to re-think our approach towards antibiotic therapy. This often involves using new drugs, but sometimes it also involves considering the use of older drugs that we haven’t used very much for a long time.

One such drug is chloramphenicol. Years ago, this antibiotic was widely used, and is still used in people and animals in some situations. In some respects, it is a very good antibiotic – it is often effect against many bacteria including those that are resistant to many other drugs, such as MRSA and MRSI/MRSP.

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Articles of Interest

Chloramphenicol Resurrected: A Journey from Antibiotic Resistance in Eye Infections to Biofilm and Ocular Microbiota

Chloramphenicol is experiencing its renaissance because it is widely used in the treatment and prevention of superficial eye infections due to its broad spectrum of activity and other useful antimicrobial peculiarities, such as the antibiofilm properties. Concerns have been raised in the past for the risk of aplastic anemia when chloramphenicol is given intravenously. Chloramphenicol seems suitable to be used as topical eye formulation for the limited rate of resistance compared to fluoroquinolones,

Chloramphenicol: New Perspectives on an Old Drug

Chloramphenicol is an old antibiotic being used with increasing frequency in serious childhood infections largely due to the emergence of ampicillin-resistant Hemophilus influenzae type b. Because of this renewed popularity and the recent availability of accurate analytical techniques for measurement of chloramphenicol, there have been many recent articles examining the pharmacokinetics of chloramphenicol and its two major prodrug esters, chloramphenicol succinate and chloramphenicol palmitate.

Gray Baby Syndrome

Gray baby syndrome is an adverse reaction to chloramphenicol that is characterized by abdominal distention, hemodynamic collapse, and ashen-gray skin discoloration in neonates.

Pharm 101: Chloramphenicol

Clinical uses: Rarely used, Rickettsial infections, Bacterial meningitis if penicillin allergic.

Resources

Molecule of the Week Archive

Chloramphenicol is a venerable antibiotic that was isolated from the soil bacterium Streptomyces venezuelae in the late 1940s by researchers at Parke–Davis (Detroit), the University of Illinois (Urbana–Champaign), and Yale University (New Haven, CT). It was originally called chloromycetin.

StatPearls

Chloramphenicol is a synthetically manufactured broad-spectrum antibiotic. It was initially isolated from the bacteria Streptomyces venezuelae in 1948 and was the first bulk produced synthetic antibiotic. However, chloramphenicol is a rarely used drug in the United States because of its known severe adverse effects, such as bone marrow toxicity and grey baby syndrome.