Title: Sulfa drug | medicine | Britannica
Headings: Sulfa drug
Sulfa drug
medicine
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Alternative Titles: sulfonamide, sulpha drug, sulphonamide drug
Sulfa drug, also called sulfonamide, any member of a group of synthetic antibiotics containing the sulfanilamide molecular structure. Sulfa drugs were the first chemical substances systematically used to treat and prevent bacterial infections in humans. Their use has diminished because of the availability of antibiotics that are more effective and safer and because of increased instances of drug resistance. Sulfonamides are still used, but largely for treating urinary tract infections and preventing infection of burns. They are also used in the treatment of certain forms of malaria. The antibacterial effects of sulfonamides were first observed in 1932, when German bacteriologist and pathologist Gerhard Domagk noted the effects of the red dye Prontosil on Streptococcus infections in mice. It was later proved by French researchers that the active agent of Prontosil was sulfanilamide, or para- aminobenzenesulfonamide, a product of the body’s metabolism of Prontosil. By the 1940s sulfanilamide was a widely used drug. During World War II white sulfanilamide powders became standard in first-aid kits for the treatment of open wounds, and sulfanilamide tablets were taken to fight intestinal infections.