colistin
Noun
Meaning
colistin (usually uncountable, plural colistins)
(medicine) A polymixin antibiotic effective against a range of gram-negative bacteria, sometimes considered a last-resort antibiotic.
Synonyms
Examples
In recent years with the rise of multidrug resistance, we’ve had to reintroduce colistin to combat bacteria that now resists more conventional antibiotics.
The discovery was described as "alarming" by scientists, who called for urgent restrictions on the use of polymyxins - a class of antibiotics that includes the drug colistin and is widely used in livestock farming.
We modified colistin with an agent that attracts antibodies onto the surface of the bacteria and built a compound that both directly kills bacteria and at the same time induces an immune-response.”