What Is Terramycin?
Terramycin is a brand of oxytetracycline an antibiotic used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections. Oxytetracycline is a broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotic, the second of the group to be discovered. It was first found near Pfizer laboratories in a soil sample yielding the soil actinomycete, Streptomyces rimosus by Finlay et al. In 1953, a celebrated Scottish American biochemist, Robert B Woodward, worked out the chemical structure of Oxytetracycline, enabling Pfizer to mass-produce the drug under the trade name Terramycin.
This discovery by Woodward was a major advancement in Tetracycline research and paved the way for the discovery of an Oxytetracycline derivative, Doxycycline, which is one of the most popularly used antibiotics today. Terramycin, like other Tetracyclines, is used to treat many infections common and rare. Its better absorption profile makes it preferable to tetracycline for moderately severe acne at a dosage of 250-500mg four times a day for usually 6-8 weeks at a time, but alternatives should be sought if no improvement occurs by 3 months.
It is sometimes used to treat Spirochaetal infection, Clostridial wound infection, and Anthrax in patients sensitive to Penicillin. Terramycin is used to treat infections of the respiratory and urinary tracts, skin, ear, eye, and Gonorrhoea although the use of Tetracyclines for such purposes has declined in recent years due to large increases in bacterial resistance to this class of drugs. The drug is particularly useful when Penicillins and/or Macrolides cannot be used due to allergy. It may be used to treat Legionnaire’s Disease as a substitute for a Macrolide or Quinolone.
Terramycin is especially valuable in treating Non-Specific-Urethritis, LGV, Lyme disease, Brucellosis, Cholera, Plague, Typhus, Relapsing Fever, Tulaeraemia and infections caused by Chlamydia, Mycoplasma, and Rickettsia. Doxycycline is now preferred to Terramycin for many of these indications because it has improved pharmacologic features.
Terramycin is used to control the outbreak of American Foulbrood and European Foulbrood in honeybees. The brand name drug Terramycin is no longer available in the U.S., but generic versions may still be available.
How Terramycin works
Terramycin works by interfering with the ability of bacteria to produce essential proteins. Without these proteins, the bacteria cannot grow, multiply and increase in numbers. The standard dose is 250-500mg six hourly by mouth. In particularly severe infections, this dose may be increased accordingly. Occasionally, Terramycin is given by intramuscular injection or topically in the form of creams, ophthalmic ointments, or eye drops.
Why was Terramycin discontinued?
Terramycin (oxytetracycline) and tetracycline were discontinued largely because of difficulties in sourcing raw materials for the production of the drugs but there are currently four tetracycline antibiotic derivatives available on the United States drug market.
Nevertheless, Terramycin products for veterinary use continue to be available in the US. Terramycin Ophthalmic Ointment is available over-the-counter, except in California where it requires a prescription. Terramycin is available as a sterile eye ointment. The sterile ointment is usually applied as a thin film to the inside of the eyelid 2 to 4 times a day.
