Streptomycin << `strehp` tuh MY sihn >> is an antibiotic that fights certain disease-causing bacteria. It is produced by Streptomyces griseus, a microbe that grows in soil. Streptomycin was one of the first antibiotics discovered. The American microbiologist Selman A. Waksman and a student of his discovered it in 1943. Their discovery resulted from tests on about 10,000 soil microbes for antibiotic activity. Streptomycin is one of the aminoglycosides, a group of chemically similar antibiotics that also includes gentamicin and neomycin.
After its discovery, streptomycin was used to treat tuberculosis and many other bacterial infections. Its use greatly decreased as scientists developed safer and more effective antibiotics. The popularity of streptomycin also declined because certain bacteria acquired resistance to its effects. Today, it is seldom used. But physicians use other aminoglycosides in the treatment of a wide variety of serious disorders, including peritonitis, pneumonia, and infections of the urinary tract.
Streptomycin weakens or kills bacteria by interfering with the process by which they make proteins. Too large a dose of streptomycin can cause a person to suffer dizziness, nausea, and deafness due to damage to the nerves of the ear. An overdose of streptomycin also can cause kidney damage.
