Neomycin therapy; its use in virus pneumonia, tuberculosis and diseases caused by gram-negative bacteria.

Abstract

Neomycin, an antibiotic isolated by Waksman and his associates1from Actinomyces fradii, was tested by its discoverers against selected organisms and by our group2against 370 strains of bacteria, viruses and protozoa in vitro and in experimental animals. The average inhibitory concentration of neomycin expressed in units per cubic centimeter of test medium in vitro was 0.1 for Listeria, 0.9 for Salmonella typhosa, 0.16 for paratyphoid bacilli, 1.3 for other Salmonella, 1.0 for Shigella, 0.44 for Escherichia, 1.9 for Aerobacter, 1.8 for Klebsiella, 1.05 for Proteus, 3.1 for Pseudomonas, 0.8 for Brucella, 0.12 for Pasteurella, 0.4 for cholera vibrios, 0.1 for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 0.15 for Treponemataceae and 4.7 for Endameba histolytica; the range of activity varied from doses equivalent to approximately one tenth of the average to about twenty times higher concentrations. Neomycin was active against both streptomycin sensitive and streptomycin resistant tubercle and typhoid bacilli. Grampositive cocci