Gentamicin

Drug name: Gentamicin

Other names used:

• Alcomicin®
• Diogent®
• G-myticin®
• Garamycin®
• Genoptic®
• Gentacidin®
• Gentak®
• Gentamicin Injection USP®
• SAB-Gentamicin®

Active Ingredients: Gentamicin

Therapeutic actions: Gentamicin is a bactericidal antibiotic that works by binding the 30S subunit of the bacterial ribosome, interrupting protein synthesis.
Like all aminoglycosides, when gentamicin is given orally, it is not effective. This is because it is absorbed from the small intestine, and then travels through the portal vein to the liver, where it is inactivated. Therefore, it can only be given intravenously, intramuscularly or topically.
E. coli has shown some resistance to gentamicin, despite being Gram-negative.

Indications: Gentamicin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic, and can treat many types of bacterial infections, particularly Gram-negative infection. However, gentamicin is not used for Neisseria gonorrheae, Neisseria meningitidis or Legionella pneumophila infections.

Contraindications and cautions: Do not use gentamicin without first talking to your doctor if you have:

• sulfite sensitivity;
• kidney disease;
• hearing loss or loss of balance due to ear problems;
• Parkinson's disease; or
• a neuromuscular disorder such as myasthenia gravis.

You may not be able to use gentamicin, or you may require a dosage adjustment or special monitoring during treatment if you have any of the conditions listed above.
Do not use gentamicin without first talking to your doctor if you are pregnant or could become pregnant during treatment. Do not use gentamicin without first talking to your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

Adverse effects: The following are some of the side effects that are known to be associated with this medicine. Because a side effect is stated here, it does not mean that all people using this medicine will experience that or any side effect.
All aminoglycosides are toxic to the sensory cells of the ear, but they vary greatly in their relative effects on hearing versus balance. Gentamicin is a vestibulotoxin, and can usually cause permanent loss of equilibrioception, caused by damage to the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear if taken more than a few times. Gentamicin has on occasion impaired or even wholly destroyed hearing and effects kidney function. In most instances, the affected individual has undergone treatment for 2 weeks or more. A small number of affected individuals have a normally harmless mutation in their mitochondrial RNA, that allows the gentamicin to affect their cells. The cells of the ear are particularly sensitive to this. Gentamicin is sometimes used intentionally for this purpose in severe Ménière's disease, to disable the vestibular apparatus.
Gentamicin can also be highly nephrotoxic, particularly if multiple doses accumulate over a course of treatment. For this reason gentamicin is usually dosed by body weight. Various formulae exist for calculating gentamicin dosage. Also serum levels of gentamicin are monitored during treatment.
The side effects listed above may not include all of the side effects reported by the drug's manufacturer.

Interactions: Tell your doctor or pharmacist what medicines you are already taking, including those bought without a prescription and herbal medicines, before you start treatment with this medicine.
Other drugs, especially those that affect the kidneys, can interact with gentamicin resulting in dangerous side effects and/or decreased effectiveness.

Additional Information: DO NOT SHARE THIS MEDICINE with others. DO NOT USE THIS MEDICINE for other health conditions. KEEP THIS PRODUCT, as well as syringes and needles, if needed during treatment, out of the reach of children. Do not reuse needles, syringes, or other materials.