ANTISEPTIC-ANTIBIOTIC GUMBOS EFFECTIVE AGAINST GRAM-NEGATIVE PATHOGENS

Ion-pairs known as GUMBOS (group of uniform materials based on organic salts) from antiseptics (chlorhexidine and octenidine) and the beta-lactam antibiotic, ceftriaxone. The antimicrobial efficacy of these GUMBOS and unreacted stoichiometric equivalent mixtures were compared to ceftriaxone and azithromycin alone. On a molar basis, GUMBOS were equivalent to ceftriaxone and 10× more effective in killing N. gonorrhoeae than azithromycin. They were more than 100× more effective than either antibiotic in killing CRE. A strategy involving the electrostatic interaction between a common antiseptic and a discontinued antibiotic (octenidine and carbenicillin) was also evaluated as a treatment for gonorrhoea. Octenidine/carbenicillin is a novel group of uniform materials based on organic salts (GUMBOS) with inherent in vitro antibacterial activity that comes from its parent antiseptic and antibacterial ions, octenidine and carbenicillin, respectively.