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.
Spectrum 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/ml2
Adverse 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.3
Mechanism of action
References
Fischer J, Ganellin CR (2006). Analogue-based Drug Discovery. John Wiley & Sons. p. 494. ISBN 9783527607495. 9783527607495 ↩
"Cefoperazone (Cefobid) - The Antimicrobial Index Knowledgebase - TOKU-E". antibiotics.toku-e.com. http://antibiotics.toku-e.com/antimicrobial_462_1.html ↩
Stork CM (2006). "Antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals". In Nelson LH, Flomenbaum N, Goldfrank LR, Hoffman RL, Howland MD, Lewin NA (eds.). Goldfrank's toxicologic emergencies. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 847. ISBN 0-07-143763-0. Retrieved 2009-07-03. 0-07-143763-0 ↩