Streptomycin is an early antibiotic, discovered by Selman Waksman, with wide spectrum antibacterial activity. For years it was the major drug for tuberculosis treatment. Toxicity to hearing and balance led to the use of related gentamicin and kanamycin, and of rifampicin for tuberculosis.

 

Waksman, Selman Abraham (1888–1973)

 

 

Selman Waksman was a Russian-born US biochemist, microbiologist, and soil scientist. His isolation of streptomycin, the first specific antibiotic (a term he coined), won him the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.