Chloramphenicol: Mechanism, Antimicrobial Spectrum, Resistance, Adverse Effects and Clinical Uses

A pharmacology lecture on chloramphenicol, obtained from Streptomyces, as a broad-spectrum bacteriostatic. It explains the mechanism of inhibiting bacterial protein synthesis by interfering with peptide chain transfer and the effect on mitochondrial synthesis at high doses, the spectrum across gram-positive and gram-negative organisms with the cidal effect on Haemophilus influenzae and the organisms it does not cover, the resistance built by extensive and indiscriminate use, and the pharmacokinetics. It gives the adverse effects from the haemopoietic and bone-marrow suppression to grey baby syndrome, and the uses - typhoid fever, pyogenic meningitis, anaerobic wound, pelvic and brain abscess, intraocular infection where it reaches high concentration in the ocular fluid, and second-line cover where tetracyclines and erythromycin are contraindicated.