Streptomycin Injection: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Precautions and Alternates

Quick overview

Streptomycin Injection is an aminoglycoside antibiotic used to treat moderate to severe bacterial infections, including tuberculosis, pneumonia, and other infections caused by susceptible bacteria. It is given as an injection into a muscle by a healthcare professional. It will not work for colds, flu, or other virus infections, and it requires monitoring for nerve, hearing, and kidney side effects.

What is Streptomycin Injection

Streptomycin is an antibiotic that is used to treat moderate to severe bacterial infections in many different parts of the body, including tuberculosis. It will not work for colds, flu, or other virus infections.

Streptomycin Injection uses

• Moderate to severe tuberculosis
• Pneumonia
• E. coli infections
• Plague
• Tularemia
• Brucellosis
• Granuloma inguinale (donovanosis)
• Chancroid
• Bacterial endocarditis (with penicillin)
• Urinary tract infections
• Gram-negative bacillary bacteremia
• Other infections caused by certain susceptible bacteria

Benefits of Streptomycin Injection

• Kills or stops the growth of certain bacteria that cause moderate to severe infections
• Used for serious bacterial infections for which other medicines may not work

How Streptomycin Injection works

Streptomycin is an antibiotic that kills bacteria or stops them from growing.

Streptomycin Injection dosage

This medicine is given by a healthcare professional as a shot into a muscle, usually in the buttocks, middle thighs, or upper arms. Use this medicine for the full length of treatment prescribed, even if you start feeling better after a few days. Skipping doses or stopping early can lead to bacteria that resist treatment.

This medicine works best when there is a steady amount in your blood, so try to receive it on a regular schedule. Drink extra fluids while receiving this medicine to help keep your kidneys working well. You will need regular blood, urine, hearing, and nerve tests while receiving this medicine to check for side effects.

If you miss an appointment for your injection, contact your healthcare professional as soon as possible. This medicine may be given together with other medicines to treat your infection; keep using those medicines for as long as your doctor has prescribed.

Available forms and strengths

• Powder for solution (injection)

Side effects of Streptomycin Injection

Common

• Nausea, vomiting, and dizziness
• Diarrhea
• Numbness, tingling, or swelling in the face
• Fever
• Rash or itching
• Vaginal itching or discharge
• Feeling like you're spinning and loss of balance (vertigo)
• Muscle weakness
• Swelling
• Lazy eye

Serious

• Signs of allergic reaction: hives, difficult breathing, swelling of face or throat
• Severe skin reaction: fever, sore throat, burning eyes, skin pain, red or purple rash with blistering and peeling
• Severe dizziness, spinning sensation, balance problems
• Hearing loss, fullness in the ears, ringing or roaring sound in the ears
• Vision problems, eye pain
• Problems with memory or concentration, changes in personality or behavior
• Muscle weakness, weak or shallow breathing
• Tremors, muscle twitching, seizure
• Pain, numbness, tingly feeling
• Pale or yellowed skin, easy bruising
• Severe stomach pain, watery or bloody diarrhea (even months after the last dose)
• In young infants: severe drowsiness, breathing problems, or severe muscle weakness
• Kidney problems: infrequent or painful urination, dark amber or red urine, fatigue, muscle weakness, swelling, nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite
• Low levels of white blood cells: infection, fatigue, fever, aches, pain, flu-like symptoms
• Low levels of blood platelets: bruising, bleeding, fatigue, weakness
• Hemolytic anemia: pale skin, yellow skin/eyes/mouth, dark-colored urine, fever, weakness, dizziness, confusion, reduced ability to exercise
• Exfoliative dermatitis: large areas of skin peeling with redness and itching

Warnings and precautions

• Streptomycin may cause nerve damage or hearing loss, especially in people with kidney disease or those using certain other medicines. Extreme caution is needed in people with eighth cranial nerve problems, as the risk of severe nerve damage is much higher in patients with kidney problems. Using streptomycin with other nerve- or kidney-damaging drugs, particularly certain other antibiotics, should be avoided.
• Streptomycin's nerve-damaging effects can cause breathing paralysis, especially if given soon after anesthesia or with muscle relaxants. Very young infants given too much streptomycin have developed severe drowsiness and shallow breathing, sometimes leading to coma; infants should not receive more than the recommended dose.
• Diarrhea during or after treatment may be a sign of a new infection and should be reported to a doctor, especially if watery or bloody. Do not use streptomycin if you have had previous toxic or allergic reactions to it.
• Streptomycin may harm an unborn baby, so effective birth control should be used to prevent pregnancy. It should only be used in pregnancy if the benefit outweighs the risk, since it can affect the baby's hearing.
• You should not breastfeed while using streptomycin, though other sources note studies suggest minimal risk to the infant during breastfeeding.
• People with kidney disease are at higher risk of serious nerve and hearing damage from streptomycin, and may need a reduced dose.
• Talk to your healthcare professional about using this medicine with alcohol, as interactions may occur.

Storage

• Store dry powder at controlled room temperature between 15°C and 30°C.
• Streptomycin for Injection will be stored by your healthcare professional at room temperature (15°C-30°C).
• Keep out of reach and sight of children.
• Sterile reconstituted solutions should be protected from light.
• Reconstituted solution should be used within 24 hours and any remainder discarded.

When to see a doctor

Get emergency help right away for signs of an allergic reaction such as hives, difficulty breathing, or swelling of the face or throat, or for a severe skin reaction with fever, sore throat, burning eyes, or a blistering rash.

Call your doctor right away if you have severe dizziness, hearing problems, vision problems, balance problems, trouble concentrating, muscle weakness, numbness, or tingling. Stop using this medicine and check with your doctor right away if you have a sudden decrease in hearing or hearing loss, which may come with dizziness and ringing in the ears.

Call your doctor right away if you have itching, hives, hoarseness, shortness of breath, trouble breathing, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the hands, face, or mouth after receiving this medicine.

If you think you have been given too much streptomycin, contact your healthcare professional, hospital emergency department, or regional poison control center immediately, even without symptoms.

Alternatives

• Amikacin injection
• Tobramycin injection