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vancomycinColumbia Encyclopedia entry: vancomycin
Vancomycinvăn′kōmī'sĭn, antibiotic resembling penicillin in the way it acts. It is derived from the bacterium Streptomyces orientalis, which was isolated from soil of India and Indonesia. Vancomycin destroys Gram-positive bacteria, especially staphylococci and enterococci (see Gram's stain). It seems to function by inhibiting the formation of the bacterial cell wall, as does penicillin; it may also cause damage to the cell membrane. The drug is intensely irritating to tissues and is usually used only for infections where microorganisms are resistant to penicillin (see drug resistance). Vancomycin must be administered intravenously because it is not absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract. Mutant microorganisms resistant to vancomycin are rare.
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Wikipedia search results for: Vancomycin
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Vancomycin is a glycopeptide antibiotic used in the prophylaxis and treatment of infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. It has traditionally been reserved as a drug of "last resort", used only after treatment with other antibiotics had failed, although the emergence of vancomycin-resistant organisms means that it is increasingly being displaced from this role by linezolid and daptomycin.
Vancomycin was first isolated by EC Kornfeld from a soil sample collected from the interior jungles of Borneo by a missionary. The organism that produced it was eventually named Amycolatopsis orientalis. The original indication for vancomycin was...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: vancomycin
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- drug resistance
Drug resistance, condition in which infecting bacteria can resist the destructive effects of drugs such as antibiotics and sulfa drugs. Drug resistance has become a serious public health probl...
- antibiotic
Antibiotic, any of a variety of substances, usually obtained from microorganisms, that inhibit the growth of or destroy certain other microorganisms. The great number of diverse antibiotics cu...
