The discovery, in the 1930s and 1940s, of antibiotics revolutionized the practice of medicine. Beginning with the streptomycins and the penicillins, hundreds of antibiotics have been developed and have come into routine use for the management of infectious diseases, opportunistic infections and infections resulting from trauma. This cornucopia of anti-infective agents has created a number of problems, not the least of which is the organization of information concerning them.

This Handbook contains records for all the major drugs currently used in the treatment of infection. Monographs are provided for 1600 anti-infective agents. For each main entry, the following information is provided: the chemical name and a list of proprietary names and synonyms; the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry Number; the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS) number; and the Merck Index (12th edition) number. The physical properties of each compound are described and the known biological activity and indicated applications are presented. The structure of each compound is provided, together with a summary of the acute toxicity data associated with it, and the manufacturers and suppliers of the drug are also given. Indexes, including a master index of names and synonyms, are appended.