Streptomycin

Streptomycin, an antibiotic derived from Streptomyces griseus, was the first aminoglycoside to be discovered and used in practice in the 1940s. Selman Waksman and eventually Albert Schatz were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of streptomycin and its antibacterial activity. Although streptomycin was the first antibiotic determined to be effective against mycobacterium tuberculosis, it has fallen out of favor due to resistance and is now primarily used as adjunctive treatment in cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

Streptomycin, an antibiotic derived from Streptomyces griseus, was the first aminoglycoside to be discovered and used in practice in the 1940s. Selman Waksman and eventually Albert Schatz were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of streptomycin and its antibacterial activity. Although streptomycin was the first antibiotic determined to be effective against mycobacterium tuberculosis, it has fallen out of favor due to resistance and is now primarily used as adjunctive treatment in cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

Although streptomycin was the first antibiotic available for the treatment of mycobacterium tuberculosis, it is now largely a second line option due to resistance and toxicity. Streptomycin may also be used to treat a variety of other infections caused by susceptible strains of aerobic bacteria where other less toxic agents are ineffective. Examples include: Yersinia pestis, Francisella tularensis, Brucella, Calymmatobacterium granulomatis (donovanosis, granuloma inguinale), H. ducreyi (chancroid), H. influenzae (in respiratory, endocardial, and meningeal infections - concomitantly with another antibacterial agents). K. pneumoniae pneumonia (concomitantly with another antibacterial agent), E.coli, Proteus, A.aerogenes, K. pneumoniae, and Enterococcus faecalis in urinary tract infections, Streptococcus viridans, Enterococcus faecalis (in endocardial infections - concomitantly with penicillin), and Gram-negative bacillary bacteremia (concomitantly with another antibacterial agent).

• Bacteremia
• Bacterial Infections caused by susceptible bacteria
• Chancroid
• Disseminated mycobacterium avium complex infection
• Flu caused by Influenza
• Granuloma Inguinale
• Menière's Disease
• Mycobacterium Avium Intracellulare Complex (MAC)
• Mycobacterium kansasii infection
• Mycobacterium marinum infection
• Plague
• Pneumonia
• Tuberculosis (TB)
• Tularemia
• Urinary Tract Infection