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Anaesthesia => Drug => Sulphonamides
Sulphonamides
Sulphonamides, also known as sulpha drugs, common name applied to a group of chemotherapeutic agents that are effective against a number of infectious diseases. In 1935 the German chemist, Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk, discovered that an azo dye, Prontosil, cured streptococcal infections in mice. The active principle in Prontosil was found to be paraaminobenzenesulphonamide, commonly known as sulphanilamide. Clinical trials with sulphanilamide proved effective in arresting various bacterial diseases. Many derivatives of sulphanilamide have proved effective against such conditions as puerperal fever, scarlet fever, erysipelas, meningitis, pneumonia, and bacteraemia. All the sulphonamides are somewhat toxic, producing blood abnormalities and kidney damage when indiscriminately used. Since the discovery of penicillin, which is as effective as the sulphonamides although far less toxic, the use of sulphonamides has somewhat declined. Because bacteria often develop resistance to a particular kind of treatment, however, they are used when bacterial tolerance for penicillin has developed. Those still used include sulphabenzamide; sulpha methoxazole; sulphacetamide; sulphasalazine; and sulphathiazole.
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