B. Stratford
Nov 1, 1968
Citations
0
Influential Citations
19
Citations
Journal
Medical Journal of Australia
Abstract
IN 1967, Beecham Research Laboratories introduced their newest seml-svnthettc penicillin, chemically disodium 6· (e-carboxy-phenyl-acetamido) penicillanic acid. It was termed generically carbenicillin, and is marketed as "Pyopen", an obvious (if bacteriologically out-of-date) clue to its clin ical use. Although the antibacterial spectrum of carbenicillin appears to be fairly broad according to Acred et alii (1967), it would be unwise to think that it would be the drug of choice for infections caused by most of the organisms they list-for example gas gangrene. A representative list of sensitive organisms (after Acred et alii, 1967) is as follows: Escherichia coli; Salmonella spp.; Shigella spp.: Pseudomonas ceruginosa; Proteus spp.; Ha:mophilus inj1.uenzre; Staphylococcus aureus (not producing penicillinase); Streptococcus pyogenes; Str. pneumonice; Clostridium perfrinuens ; CI. tctani. From a practical point of view, carbenicillin, happily (like cloxacillin and methicillin before it), is essentially a narrow-spectrum antibiotic. In my opinion, its use should be confined to infections due to Pseudomonas ceruginosa, Proteus. spp. infections SEnsitive to the drug, and Escherichia coli infections, again in which sensitivity has been shown. This report deals with 27 patients with infections caused by Ps. ceruginosa. We have not attempted to treat resistant Proteus spp, infections, as these are fortunately few; conversely, we have found few resistant strains of E. coli sensitive to carbenicillin. However, details of sensitivity testing against organisms other than Ps, reruginosa will be the subject of another paper.