Tazocin Mechanism of Action

Pharmacology: Piperacillin, a broad-spectrum, semisynthetic penicillin active against many gram-positive and gram-negative aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, exerts bactericidal activity by inhibition of both septum and cell wall synthesis. Tazobactam, a triazolylmethyl penicillanic acid sulphone, is a potent inhibitor of many β-lactamases, in particular, the plasmid-mediated enzymes which commonly cause resistance to penicillins and cephalosporins including 3rd-generation cephalosporins. The presence of tazobactam in the Tazocin formulation enhances and extends the antibiotic spectrum of piperacillin to include many β-lactamases-producing bacteria normally resistant to it and other β-lactam antibiotics. Thus, Tazocin combines the properties of a broad-spectrum antibiotic and a β-lactamase inhibitor.
Microbiology: Tazocin is highly active against piperacillin-sensitive microorganisms as well as many β-lactamase-producing, piperacillin-resistant microorganisms.
Gram-Negative Bacteria: Most plasmid-mediated β-lactamase-producing and non-β-lactamase-producing strains of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp (including K. oxytoca, K. pneumoniae), Proteus sp (including Proteus vulgaris, Proteus mirabilis), Salmonella and Shigella spp, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis, Moraxella sp (including M. catarrhalis), Haemophilus sp (including H. influenzae, H. parainfluenzae), Pasteurella multocida, Yersinia and Campylobacter spp, Gardnerella vaginalis. Many chromosomally-mediated β-lactamase-producing and non-β-lactamase-producing strains of Enterobacter sp (including E. cloacae, E. aerogenes), Citrobacter sp (including C. freundii, C. diversus), Providencia sp, Morganella morganii, Serratia sp (including S. marcescens, S. liquefaciens), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Pseudomonas sp (including P. cepacia, P. fluorescens), Xanthomonas maltophilia, Acinetobacter sp.
Gram-Positive Bacteria: β-Lactamase-producing and non-β-lactamase-producing strains of streptococci (S. pneumoniae, S. pyogenes, S. bovis, S. agalactiae, S. viridans, group C, group G), enterococci (E. faecalis), Staphylococcus aureus (not methicillin-resistant S. aureus), S. saprophyticus, S. epidermidis (coagulase-negative staphylococci), corynebacteria, Listeria monocytogenes, Nocardia sp.
Anaerobic Bacteria: β-Lactamase-producing and non-β-lactamase-producing anaerobes eg, Bacteroides sp (including B. bivius, B disiens, B. capillosus, B. melaninogenicus, B. oralis), the Bacteroides fragilis group (including B. fragilis, B. vulgatus, B. distasonis, B. ovatus, B. thetaiotaomicron, B. uniformis, B. asaccharolyticus), as well as Peptostreptococcus and Fusobacterium spp, Eubacterium group, Clostridia sp (including C. difficile, C. perfringens), Veillonella and Actinomyces spp.