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Cefoperazone

Antibiotic

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Cefoperazone is a third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic, marketed by Pfizer under the name Cefobid. It is one of few cephalosporin antibiotics effective in treating Pseudomonas bacterial infections which are otherwise resistant to these antibiotics.

It was patented in 1974 and approved for medical use in 1981. Cefoperazone/sulbactam (Sulperazon) is a co-formulation with sulbactam.

01Spectrum of bacterial susceptibility

Cefoperazone has a broad spectrum of activity and has been used to target bacteria responsible for causing infections of the respiratory and urinary tract, skin, and the female genital tract. The following represents MIC susceptibility data for a few medically significant microorganisms.

  • Haemophilus influenzae: 0.12 - 0.25 μg/ml
  • Staphylococcus aureus: 0.125 - 32 μg/ml
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae: ≤0.007 - 1 μg/ml

02Adverse effects

Cefoperazone contains an N-methylthiotetrazole (NMTT or 1-MTT) side chain. As the antibiotic is broken down in the body, it releases free NMTT, which can cause hypoprothrombinemia (likely due to inhibition of the enzyme vitamin K epoxide reductase) and a reaction with ethanol similar to that produced by disulfiram (Antabuse effect), due to inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase.

Watch videos about CefoperazoneExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Cefoperazone, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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