Aztreonam: Encyclopedia - Aztreonam

Aztreonam

Aztreonam is a monocyclic beta-lactam antibiotic (a monobactam) originally isolated from Chromobacterium violaceum. It is resistant to beta-lactamases and is useful against gram-negative pathogens.

Commonly used in its medicine form as an antibiotic to treat infections in several different parts of the body. It is not used to treat colds, viral or flu infections.

It has no useful activity against gram-positive bacteria or anaerobes, but has very broad spectrum against gram-negative aerobes, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This has given it the nickname "the magic bullet for aerobic gram-negative bacteria".

Aztreonam - External link

• Description on Medline

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Aztreonam", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki