[Antimicrobial effects of medicines which are not antibiotics]

The data on antimicrobial activity of 69 different drugs not belonging to the class of typical antibiotics were examined. It was shown that many of them had antimicrobial activity against enterobacteria susceptible and resistant to antibiotics. Some of such drugs were able to eliminate the property of resistance to antibiotics and in particular that to chloramphenicol and tetracyclines. The data are indicative of the fact that many of the so called nonantibiotics have the capacity of active interference with the human microbial ecology.