Fatal Aplastic Anemia Following Chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin®) Administration

Persistence of Antibiotics in Blood of Patients With Acute Renal Failure. Ii. Chloramphenicol and Its Metabolic Products in the Blood of Patients With Severe Renal Disease or Hepatic Cirrhosis*†

“…Chloramphenicol has been implicated as a causative factor in some cases of aplastic anemia (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). Since uremic patients are usually also anemic, further bone marrow depression that might result from chloramphenicol or its products may be difficult to detect.…”

Maxwell Wintrobe, in his own words

“…This period also saw the seminal studies of the pathophysiology of the anaemia of chronic disease, predicting the multiple components involved in the pathogenesis of this syndrome. In typical fashion, Wintrobe recognized the first case of Fabry's disease in the United States and called attention to the possibility that chloramphenicol was a cause of aplastic anaemia (Smiley et al , 1952). Research on leucocyte kinetics was initiated, in the capable hands of Cartwright and Athens, taking advantage of the latest developments in radioisotope labelling; seminal studies of haematopoietic progenitor cells were undertaken by Dana Boggs and Paul Chervenick while James Kushner extended the haem biosynthesis studies to define the molecular basis of inherited porphyria cutanea tarda.…”

Susceptibility Testing of Anaerobic Bacteria with 100-μg Carbenicillin Disks

“…fragilis infections (11), but both chloramphenicol and clindamycin produce adverse effects that limit their usefulness (6,8,12,30,31,33,40). Carbenicillin is relatively nontoxic, and in vitro data (3,5,16,25,34,41) indicate that most anaerobes are susceptible to this agent.…”