Vancocin HCL Medicine - Information, Side effects and uses of Vancocin

Generic Name: Vancomycin

Vancocin is a narrow-spectrum antibacterial agent that has excellent antimicrobial activity against gram-positive organisms, including Clostridium difficile , diphtheroids, most Enterococcus species, staphylococci, and streptococci.

Intravenous vancomycin (Vancocin) is indicated in the treatment of bone and joint infections (including osteomyelitis), pneumonia, septicemia, and skin and soft tissue infections caused by susceptible strains of Staphylococcus species (including methicillin-resistant strains).

Intravenous vancomycin (Vancocin) is indicated for prophylaxis of bacterial endocarditis in penicillin-allergic patients with prosthetic heart valves or congenital, rheumatic, or other acquired valvular heart disease who are undergoing dental procedures or surgical procedures of the upper respiratory tract.

Vancocin is used to treat enterococcal infections in patients with a history of hypersensitivity to beta-lactam antibiotics, and infections due to beta-lactam-resistant microorganisms, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE), and penicillin-resistant enterococci. The increase in prevalence of disease due to MRSA and MRSE and of antibiotic resistance in general has led to an increase in the use of vancomycin.
One of the consequences of increased vancomycin use has been the emergence of vancomycin-resistant microorganisms. From 1989 through 1993, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an increase in the percentage of nosocomial enterococcal infections caused by vancomycin-resistant enterococci, from 0.3 to 7.9%.

Since the determinants of vancomycin resistance in enterococci are located on a conjugative plasmid, vancomycin resistance may be transferred among enterococci and potentially to other gram-positive organisms. Staphylococcus species are among the most common causes of community- and hospital-acquired infection; thus, the potential emergence of vancomycin resistance in clinical isolates of S. aureus and S. epidermidis is a public health concern. Several strains of S. aureus with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin have been isolated from patients in Japan.

Precaution and Warning while taking Vancocin

• Parenteral vancomycin is distributed into breast milk. Although available data regarding the use of vancomycin while breast-feeding are limited, problems in humans have not been documented.
• Elderly patients are more likely to have an age-related decrease in renal function, which may require dosage adjustments to avoid excessive vancomycin serum concentrations. Because of this, geriatric patients are at greater risk of vancomycin-induced ototoxicity (i.e., loss of hearing) and nephrotoxicity.
• Intravenous vancomycin crosses the placenta. In one small controlled study, infants whose mothers were treated with vancomycin in their second or third trimester of pregnancy had no sensorineural hearing loss or nephrotoxicity that was attributed to vancomycin therapy.
• Close monitoring of vancomycin serum concentrations is recommended in premature neonates and young infants.
• No mutagenic potential was found in standard laboratory tests.