I just read about a new antibiotic that attacks proteins and was released in spring 2000. What is the new drug good for?

Patty

The drug to which you are referring is linezolid (Zyvox), the first of a new class of antibiotics, the oxazolidinones. These drugs work by preventing bacteria's ability to make protein at a very early stage. Other antibiotics, such as a group called the macrolides, also block protein synthesis, but in a different manner. Because linezolid works differently, bacteria should not have much cross-resistance to the new drug. (Cross-resistance occurs when a bacterial species develops resistance to one type of antibiotic, and that resistance protects the species from another antibiotic with a similar mode of action.)

Linezolid was approved in April 2000 to treat two resistant bacteria, VRE and MRSA. VRE, which stands for "vancomycin resistant enterococci," cause bloodstream and other infections, usually in a hospital setting. There are very few choices to treat VRE infections, and linezolid is a welcome addition. MRSA, short for "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus," is a highly resistant bacterium that causes severe soft-tissue and skin infections, as well as pneumonia and bloodstream infections, often also in hospitalized patients. Linezolid has been shown to be effective in treating some of these infections. Until now, the only antibiotic that gave us much hope of success in these patients was vancomycin (Vancocin). Linezolid may turn out to be a useful alternative in some patients. Hopefully, you will never need linezolid because you will never develop an infection due to VRE or MRSA.