n. Any of a group of antibiotics originally isolated from a strain of the soil microorganism Streptomyces mediterranei, used in the United States to treat tuberculosis and prevent meningococcal infections, and used in other countries to treat leprosy and other bacterial diseases. [Alteration (perhaps influenced by A(MINO-)) of earlier rifomycin : Rififi, alternate title of Du rififi chez les hommes, a 1955 French film noir that was a favorite of the researchers who first isolated rifamycins and who used film titles as nicknames for new compounds before formal publication of their results (from French slang rififi, scuffle, gang rumble, from reduplication of rif, fire, gunfire, combat, from Italian slang ruffo, fire, from dialectal Italian ruffo, red-headed, from Latin rūfus, reddish, red-headed; see reudh in the Appendix of Indo-European roots) + -MYCIN.] |
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