In vitro Testing of Antibacterial Activity of Amphenicols

T. POPOVA¹ and N. DIMITROV²

¹ Institute of Forestry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, BG-1756 Sofia, Bulgaria
² NIKOVET, BG-1528 Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract

POPOVA, T. and N. DIMITROV, 2000. In vitro testing of antibacterial activity of amphenicols. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 6: 711-716

Florfenicols and thiamphenicols are antibiotics of the amphenicol group, structural analogs of chloramphenicol that is forbidden for use in farm animals due to its hematotoxicity in humans. A comparative study of the antibacterial activity of these amphenicols in vitro was carried out on 37 Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains as well as the antimicrobial effect of the combination with oxytetracycline. The agar-gel method of Bauer and Kirby was used.
Florfenicol manifests the best antibacterial effect. Thiamphenicol is similar to chloramphenicol by activity, but is more efficient than oxytetracycline. On many occasions, the combination of thiamphenicol with oxytetracycline is more active in vitro than their individual application, especially in resistant microorganisms.

Key words: amphenicols, florfenicol, thiamphenicol, chloramphenicol, oxytetracycline, antibacterial activity, Gram-positive and Gram-negative