Hemopoietic Changes During Administration of Chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin®)

Profound hemopoietic changes have been observed in patients who have received chloramphenicol (chloromycetin®) therapy. Streptomyces venezuelae, from which the agent is derived, was isolated and its antibiotic activity demonstrated by Burkholder and others in 1947.1In the same year, Ehrlich and his co-workers1extended the studies and prepared the compound in crystalline form. Payne and collaborators2first employed the drug clinically in typhus fever in 1948. Chloramphenicol is well absorbed from the gastro-intestinaltract, blood levels after oral ingestion of the drug begin comparable to those obtained by parenteral administration.3It is excreted largely in the urine, appreciable amounts being found within one-half hour after a single oral dose, and maximal urinary concentrations occur between two and eight hours. Eighty to 92 per cent of the total amount administered is excreted within twenty-four hours.1 In the experiments of Smith and his associates4varying