Since streptomycin, with its salts, has demonstrated such tuberculostatic potential, many authors have cited its ototoxic propensity, viz.: Fowler and Seligman1; Carr et al.2; Shane and Laurie3; Glorig4; Heck, Lynch, and Graves,5 etc. Now another "mycin," neomycin, primarily bactericidal, adds to this ototoxic incidence. Preservation of human life commands continued "mycin" use, even at the risk of hearing impairment. Detoxifying methods, will, I trust, in the future, permit continued use of the systemic therapeutic potential of neomycin.
Waisbren avers that neomycin has the widest antibacterial spectrum of any of the antibiotics. It is primarily bactericidal. It is effective against many Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and virtually all strains of Micrococcus pyogenes. It is least effective against Proteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas species, and enterococci. However, it remains the best drug available against the Pseudomonas species.6
As bacterial resistance to other antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents mounts,