streptomycin

/strep'teuh muy"sin/, n. Pharm.

an antibiotic, C₂₁H₃₉N₇O₁₂, produced by a soil actinomycete, Streptomyces griseus, and used in medicine in the form of its white, water-soluble sulfate salt, chiefly in the treatment of tuberculosis. Cf. dihydrostreptomycin.

[1944; < NL Streptomyc(es) STREPTOMYCES + -IN²]

* * *

Antibiotic synthesized by the actinomycete Streptomyces griseus, found in soil.

It was among the first antibiotics discovered (1943, by Selman Waksman), after penicillin, gramicidin, and tyrocidine. The first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis, it interferes with the tubercle bacillus's ability to synthesize certain vital proteins. It still has some use in combination with penicillin for treating endocarditis and with tetracyclines in the treatment of plague, tularemia, and brucellosis.

* * *

▪ drug

       antibiotic synthesized by the soil organism Streptomyces griseus. Streptomycin was discovered by American biochemists Selman Waksman (Waksman, Selman Abraham), Albert Schatz, and Elizabeth Bugie in 1943. The drug acts by interfering with the ability of a microorganism to synthesize certain vital proteins. It was the first antimicrobial agent developed after penicillin and the first antibiotic effective in treating tuberculosis. Because it was effective against a wide variety of diseases, streptomycin was used often, with the result that many initially sensitive microorganisms, including the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, became resistant to the antibiotic. It is used in combination with penicillin for treating infections of heart valves ( endocarditis) and with tetracyclines (tetracycline) in the treatment of plague, tularemia, and brucellosis.

* * *