📌 COMPOSITION

• Each capsule contains: Chloramphenicol 250 mg.

📌 DESCRIPTION

Chlorasan (Chloramphenicol) is known as a broad-spectrum antibiotic; it is mainly bacteriostatic and is effective against infections caused by a wide variety of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. It works by preventing bacteria from producing proteins that are essential to them for growing and replicating. It is only used in the treatment of serious infections when other antibiotics are not suitable and do not give the desired effect. Chlorasan is readily absorbed and widely distributed in body tissues and fluids. It enters the CSF, crosses the placenta, diffuses into breast milk, and the aqueous and vitreous humours of the eye. It is largely inactivated in the liver, excreted mainly in the urine, and its half-life may be 2-5 hours.

📌 INDICATIONS

To treat severe and potentially life-threatening infections caused by bacteria such as: blood poisoning, meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenza, typhoid fever and other types of systemic Salmonella infections, cholera, Chlamydophila psittaci infections, cystic fibrosis, diseases caused by Rickettsiae, plague, and lymphogranuloma venereum.

📌 DOSAGE & ADMINISTRATION

The usual dose: 500 mg every 6 hours or 50 mg/kg daily in divided doses every 6 hours. The dose should be reduced in the presence of hepatic disease or in patients with renal insufficiency.

* Use as prescribed by your doctor, because the dose may vary from one infection to another.

📌 RESTRICTIONS ON USE

Contraindications

• Patients who are hypersensitive to Chloramphenicol.
• Not to be used for minor infections or as prophylaxis, and not to be used during vaccination.
• Not to be used in patients with aplastic anaemia or porphyria.
• Not to be used in patients with bone marrow suppression due to a disease or taking medicines such as carbamazepine, sulphonamide and penicillamine.

Precautions

• Chlorasan should only be used in the treatment of serious life-threatening infections. Patients may avoid the severity of side effects by using the dose as prescribed, and in some cases regular blood monitoring may be required.
• Patients with diabetes should monitor their blood sugar level regularly.
• If symptoms of anaemia or bleeding appear, a blood cell count test should be performed.
• This medication can cause grey syndrome in newborns and infants, so it should be stopped at early stages of symptom onset to avoid fatalities.
• Use with caution in patients with hepatic or renal impairment.

Use in Pregnancy and Lactation

It should be avoided during pregnancy and breast‑feeding.

📌 DRUG INTERACTIONS

• Concomitant use of Chloramphenicol with phenytoin, cyclosporine and tacrolimus increases their blood levels.
• Chloramphenicol enhances the anticoagulant effect when used concomitantly with warfarin; hence the warfarin dose should be reduced.
• Chloramphenicol increases the effect of sulfonylureas on lowering blood sugar.
• Rifampicin and phenobarbital decrease the blood level of Chloramphenicol when used concomitantly.
• Medicines that affect blood cell counts, such as clozapine, increase the risk of blood disorders when used with Chloramphenicol.
• Oral typhoid vaccination should not be taken until at least three days after finishing the course of Chloramphenicol.
• Chloramphenicol reduces the response to hydroxocobalamin.
• Concomitant use of paracetamol should be avoided as it prolongs the Chloramphenicol half-life.

📌 ADVERSE EFFECTS

• Most common side effects: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dry mouth and headache.
• Rare side effects: Aplastic anaemia, reversible bone marrow depression, grey syndrome in babies related to excessively high plasma levels, optic neuritis, peripheral neuritis, glossitis, ototoxicity and urticaria.

📌 OVERDOSAGE

Overdose symptoms are due to grey syndrome, which is characterised by (vomiting, abdominal distension, ashen colour, hypothermia, irregular respiration, progressive pallid cyanosis and shock, followed by death within a few hours or days), as well as aplastic anaemia, blurred vision, optic neuritis, allergic skin rashes and gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Chlorasan should be discontinued immediately on the appearance of toxic symptoms. Treatment is symptomatic and supportive.

📌 STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS

Store below 30°C in a dry place.

📌 PHARMACEUTICAL FORMS

• Chlorasan capsules: Pack of 16 capsules and hospital packs of different sizes.