Does vancomycin work for E. coli? Understanding why this antibiotic is ineffective
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3 min read
Vancomycin is exclusively effective against gram-positive bacteria and does not work against the gram-negative bacterium *E. coli*. The fundamental reason for this ineffectiveness lies in a key structural difference: the presence of an outer membrane in gram-negative bacteria that blocks the large vancomycin molecule from reaching its target. This critical distinction is essential for clinicians to understand when selecting appropriate antibiotics for infection treatment.
