Bacitracin/polymyxin B (trade name Polysporin among others) is a topical

antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...

cream or ointment. The active ingredients are

polymyxin B Polymyxin B, sold under the brand name Poly-Rx among others, is an antibiotic used to treat meningitis, pneumonia, sepsis, and urinary tract infections. While it is useful for many Gram negative infections, it is not useful for Gram positive infe ...

bacitracin Bacitracin is a polypeptide antibiotic. It is a mixture of related cyclic peptides produced by ''Bacillus licheniformis'' bacteria, that was first isolated from the variety "Tracy I" ( ATCC 10716) in 1945. These peptides disrupt Gram-positive bac ...

and occasionally

garamycin Gentamicin is an antibiotic used to treat several types of bacterial infections. This may include bone infections, endocarditis, pelvic inflammatory disease, meningitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and sepsis among others. It is not ef ...

gramicidin Gramicidin, also called gramicidin D, is a mix of ionophoric antibiotics, gramicidin A, B and C, which make up about 80%, 5%, and 15% of the mix, respectively. Each has 2 isoforms, so the mix has 6 different types of gramicidin molecules. They c ...

. Though Polysporin is marketed in the United States, it holds a much smaller market share than in Canada and acts as a substitute to J&J's Neosporin for those allergic to the antibiotic

neomycin Neomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that displays bactericidal activity against gram-negative aerobic bacilli and some anaerobic bacilli where resistance has not yet arisen. It is generally not effective against gram-positive bacilli and an ...

; although allergy to Bacitracin/Polymyxin B has also been reported. There is also an ophthalmological ointment, eye and ear drops.

References

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External links

Official Canadian Site

Official U.S. Site
Combination antibiotics