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| AHFS/Drugs.com | Micromedex Detailed Consumer Information |
| Routes of administration | Oral-Local |
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| ECHA InfoCard | 100.000.594 |
| Chemical and physical data | |
| Formula | C8H7N3O5 |
| Molar mass | 225.160 g·mol−1 |
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Furazolidone is anitrofuranantibacterial agent andmonoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI).[1] It is marketed byRoberts Laboratories under the brand nameFuroxone and byGlaxoSmithKline asDependal-M.
Furazolidone has been used in human and veterinary medicine. It has a broad spectrum of activity, being active against:[citation needed]
In humans, it has been used to treatdiarrhoea andenteritis caused bybacterial orprotozoan infections, including traveler's diarrhoea,cholera, andbacteremic salmonellosis.
From the early 1970s, it has been used in China to treatpeptic ulcers, where the mechanism is treatment of the causativeHelicobacter pylori infection.[2] In 2002, a journal article suggested its use in treatment ofH. pylori infections in children.[3]
Furazolidone has also been used forgiardiasis (due toGiardia lamblia), amoebiasis, and shigellosis, although it is not a first-line treatment.[4]
As aveterinary medicine, furazolidone has been used with some success to treatsalmonids forMyxobolus cerebralis infections.[citation needed]
It has also been used inaquaculture.[5]
Since furazolidone is a nitrofuran antibiotic, its use in food animals is currently prohibited by the FDA under the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act, 1994.[6]
Furazolidone is no longer available in the US.[citation needed]
It is used to differentiatemicrococci andstaphylococci.[citation needed]
It is believed to work bycrosslinking of DNA.[7]
Though an effective antibiotic when all others fail, against extremely drug resistant infections, it has many side effects. includinginhibition of monoamine oxidase,[1] and as with othernitrofurans generally,minimum inhibitory concentrations also produce systemic toxicity, resulting in tremors, convulsions, peripheral neuritis, gastrointestinal disturbances, and depression ofspermatogenesis. Nitrofurans are recognized by FDA as mutagens/carcinogens, and can no longer be used as of 1991.[8]