PENETRATION OF CHLORAMPHENICOL U. S. P. (CHLOROMYCETIN(R)) INTO THE EYE

Abstract

THE NUMBER of antibiotic agents is constantly increasing. At present there are available, at least for clinical investigation, the following antibiotics: penicillin; streptomycin; dihydrostreptomycin; neomycin; polymyxin B, or aerosporin; tyrothricin; bacitracin; aureomycin, and chloramphenicol U. S. P. (D-[—]-threo-2-dichloroacetamido-1-para-nitrophenyl-1,3-propanediol), also known as chloromycetin.® Many other new antibiotics are still not ready for clinical investigation but are under study at the present time. It appears that more antibiotics will rapidly become available in the future. Many factors keep the problem of antibiotic therapy from being a simple one. A few years ago it was easy to decide which antibiotic to use in a particular case on the basis of whether the infecting organism was gram-positive or gram-negative. Now, however, one must choose between several antibiotics for gram-positive organisms, several for gram-negative organisms and still others for viruses and rickettsias. One must now decide which antibiotic will be the most effective,