~Streptomycin

Streptomycin is a very important bacteria created by streptomyces griseus and is used to do many things. It helps against tuberculosis, yersinia pestis (like Bubonic plague), infective endocarditus, and veternary cases in larger animals like horses, cows, and sheep. In fact, it was the first antibiotic to be used against tuberculosis! It is the first of the class of drugs called aminoglycosides to be discovered. Streptomycin works by damaging cell membranes and inhibiting protein synthesis. It doesn't harm humans because people have different ribosomes than bacteria. Streptomycin may be given orally, but it MUST be administered by an intramuscular injection regularrly. The adverse effect of it is ototoxicity (harming of balance and hearing, etc.) and it may cause permanent hearing loss. As said earlier in the streptomyces page, it was first isolated on October 19, 1943 by Albert Schatz (for more information about this, click here). Streptomycin also can be used as a pesticide, mainly for fruit trees, because it will work against other bacteria, fungi, and algae.