Thiamphenicol (also known as thiophenicol and dextrosulphenidol) is an

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 ...

. It is the

methyl In organic chemistry, a methyl group is an alkyl derived from methane, containing one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms, having chemical formula . In formulas, the group is often abbreviated as Me. This hydrocarbon group occurs in many ...

sulfonyl In organosulfur chemistry, a sulfonyl group can refer either to a functional group found primarily in sulfones, or to a substituent obtained from a sulfonic acid by the removal of the hydroxyl group, similarly to acyl groups. Sulfonyl groups c ...

analogue of

chloramphenicol Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic useful for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. This includes use as an eye ointment to treat conjunctivitis. By mouth or by injection into a vein, it is used to treat meningitis, plague, cholera, a ...

and has a similar spectrum of activity, but is 2.5 to 5 times as potent. Like chloramphenicol, it is insoluble in water, but highly soluble in

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...

s. It is used in many countries as a

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

antibiotic, but is available in China, Morocco and Italy for use in humans. Its main advantage over chloramphenicol is that it has never been associated with

aplastic anaemia Aplastic anemia is a cancer in which the body fails to make blood cells in sufficient numbers. Blood cells are produced in the bone marrow by stem cells that reside there. Aplastic anemia causes a deficiency of all blood cell types: red blood c ...

. Thiamphenicol is also widely used in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, particularly for the treatment of

sexually transmitted infection Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...

s and

pelvic inflammatory disease Pelvic inflammatory disease, also known as pelvic inflammatory disorder (PID), is an infection of the upper part of the female reproductive system, namely the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries, and inside of the pelvis. Often, there may be no ...

. Unlike chloramphenicol, thiamphenicol is not readily metabolized in cattle, poultry, sheep, or humans, but is predominantly excreted unchanged. In pigs and rats the drug is excreted both as parent drug and as thiamphenicol glucuronate (FAO, 1997).

References

External links

* FAO Food and Nutrition Paper
Overview at World Health Organization - Food and Agriculture Organization
(1997). * * Benzosulfones Amphenicols Phenylethanolamines Diols Acetamides Organochlorides {{antibiotic-stub