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Glite Dictionary
nafcillin

nafcillin

7.2
An antibiotic doctors give for infections from staph bacteria that penicillin cannot cure
  • noun
  • /næfˈsɪlɪn/
  • Specialized
: nafcillina
  • Doctors often prescribe nafcillin for serious infections caused by resistant staphylococci bacteria.

Examples

  • After testing positive for a staph infection, the patient was treated with nafcillin to combat the resistant strain.

  • The most common antibiotic combination was penicillin and oxacillin, but clindamycin, ampicillin, nafcillin, and ceftriaxone were also used.

    Academic text (1995)

  • The hospital's pharmacy stocked nafcillin to ensure they could provide effective treatment for penicillin-resistant infections.

Synonyms

methicillin
vsnafcillin
  • Specialized
1 6.0

A medicine that kills bacteria, used for infections caused by staph bacteria

is the drug within the group aimed at resistant staph cases
oxacillin
vsnafcillin
  • Specialized
1 6.3

A penicillin medicine that treats staph infections not helped by penicillin

is the named drug in that resistant-treatment group
cloxacillin
vsnafcillin
  • Specialized
1 7.6

A medicine that fights some bacteria to treat infections

is a member of this class focused on penicillin-resistant staph
dicloxacillin
vsnafcillin
  • Specialized
1 8.5

An antibiotic used to treat infections caused by staph bacteria when penicillin does not work

is the specific drug used for the same resistant staph infections
penicillinase-resistant antibiotic
vsnafcillin
  • Specialized
5.0

An antibiotic like penicillin that still works when bacteria make a chemical that breaks penicillin

is the specific named drug within that resistant antibiotic category

Surface Forms

nafcillin singular
nafcillins plural

Morphology

nafcillin = penicillin (opaque) = naf + cillin

Although nafcillin belongs to the penicillin family, the name is a technical pharmaceutical formation and its internal parts are not productive morphemes for average learners.

Etymology

Nafcillin joins the drug-family ending -cillin, which shows it is a kind of penicillin, with the chemical piece naphth- (from 'naphthalene') that names a special side group. That chemical change helps the medicine resist the enzyme that breaks down penicillin, so nafcillin is used for infections caused by penicillin-resistant bacteria.