colistin

American  

[kuh-lis-tin] / kəˈlɪs tɪn /

noun

Pharmacology.

1. a toxic antibiotic polypeptide, C 45 H 85 O 10 N 13 , produced by the bacterium Bacillus colistinus, used in sulfate form against a broad spectrum of microorganisms and in the treatment of severe gastroenteritis.

---

Etymology

Origin of colistin

1950–55; < New Latin colistinus epithet for a variety of Bacillus polymyxa, equivalent to coli- ( see coliform) + -stinus, apparently an arbitrarily chosen suffix; cf. -in ²

Example Sentences

For example, colistin, one of the few gram-negative-only antibiotics approved for clinical use, can cause C. difficile-associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis, a potentially life-threatening complication.

From Science Daily • May 29, 2024

County wastewater samples, researchers detected two pathogens that not only are resistant to colistin but also have genes that should make them resistant to carbapenems, Smith said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2023

Two or three times a day, Molly Pam, a 33-year-old chef and patient advocate in San Francisco, inhales nebulized blasts of colistin or aztreonam.

From Salon • Jul. 17, 2022

Describe the possible biological consequences of an immediate ban on the use of colistin in agriculture.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

“If we lose colistin, as several experts are predicting, we lose our last medicine for a number of serious infections.”

From New York Times • Feb. 27, 2017