What is the Difference Between Crystalline Penicillin and Benzylpenicillin

The key difference between crystalline penicillin and benzylpenicillin is that crystalline penicillin mainly treats pediatric bacterial infections, while benzylpenicillin mainly treats bacterial infections in adults.

Penicillins are a group of antibiotics originally obtained from fungal species P. chrysogenum and P. rubens. Penicillin is used against different bacterial infections, and it is the first broad-spectrum antibiotic discovered. There are different types of penicillin antibiotics, including amoxicillin, ampicillin, benzylpenicillin, and crystalline penicillin. The type of penicillin antibiotic varies with the requirement and the severity of the infection.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Crystalline Penicillin 
3. What is Benzylpenicillin
4. Similarities – Crystalline Penicillin and Benzylpenicillin
5. Crystalline Penicillin vs Benzylpenicillin in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Crystalline Penicillin vs Benzylpenicillin

What is Crystalline Penicillin?

Crystalline penicillin is an antibiotic used against a number of bacterial infections, mainly in pediatric patients. It is mainly used for the treatment of pneumonia in children of age between 2 months to 5 years. Administration of crystalline penicillin takes place either intravenously or intramuscularly. Oral administration of this antibiotic is not possible since it is unstable under low pH.

The side effects of crystalline penicillin include swollen glands, skin sores, severe stomach pain, redness under your skin, severe dizziness, muscle pain, shortness of breath, and diarrhea. White patches or sores inside the mouth or lips are another side effect of this antibiotic.

What is Benzylpenicillin?

Benzylpenicillin or penicillin G is an antibiotic used against a number of bacterial infections, mainly in adults. These infections include strep throat, syphilis, pneumonia, necrotizing enterocolitis, diphtheria, tetanus, leptospirosis, etc. Administration of benzylpenicillin is by injection either into the vein or into muscle. Intramuscular drug of benzylpenicillin is of two types: benzathine benzylpenicillin and procaine benzylpenicillin.

Benzylpenicillin show effectiveness against gram-positive bacteria. The only gram-negative bacteria that are susceptible to benzylpenicillin are Neisseria gonorrhea and Leptospira weilii.

Side effects of benzylpenicillin include hypersensitivity reactions, diarrhea, seizures, joint pains, rashes, fever, etc. If an individual is allergic to penicillin, this drug is not suitable for administration since it could cause fatal allergy reactions, which may end up in death. During the treatment for Lyme disease and syphilis, benzylpenicillin may cause a reaction known as Jarisch–Herxheimer, which takes place due to the release of endotoxins by the death of harmful bacteria as a result of benzylpenicillin. According to the World Health Organization, benzylpenicillin is essential medicine.

What are the Similarities Between Crystalline Penicillin and Benzylpenicillin?

• Crystalline penicillin and benzylpenicillin are antibiotics.
• Both types are subclasses of the penicillin antibiotic group.
• These drugs have intravenous or intramuscular administration.
• Both drugs treat pneumonia.
• They are listed as essential medicines by the WHO.

What is the Difference Between Crystalline Penicillin and Benzylpenicillin?

Crystalline penicillin mainly treats pediatric bacterial infections, while benzylpenicillin mainly treats bacterial infections in adults. Thus, this is the key difference between crystalline penicillin and benzylpenicillin. The occurrence of the reaction of Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction takes place during the administration of benzylpenicillin but not in the administration of crystalline penicillin. Moreover, the occurrence of white patches inside the mouth takes place as a side effect of the drug crystalline penicillin but not benzylpenicillin.

Below is a summary of the difference between crystalline penicillin and benzylpenicillin in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Crystalline Penicillin vs Benzylpenicillin

Penicillin antibiotics are originally obtained from fungal species P. chrysogenum and P. rubens. They are used against different bacterial infections. Crystalline penicillin mainly treats pediatric bacterial infections, while benzylpenicillin mainly treats bacterial infections in adults. Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction takes place during the administration of benzylpenicillin, but it does not happen due to crystalline penicillin. So, this is the key difference between crystalline penicillin and benzylpenicillin. The WHO lists both drugs as essential medicines.

Reference:

1. “Benzylpenicillin.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. Mussa, Seid. “Evaluation of Crystalline Penicillin Use in Pediatrics Ward of Jimma University Specialized Hospital, South West Ethiopia.” Research Gate.

Image Courtesy:

1. “3OC2 Wiki” By PRKelleher – Patrick R Kelleher. The protein structure was published in a paper by Sainsbury, S., Bird, L., Rao, V., Shepherd, S.M., Stuart, D.I., Hunter, W.N., Owens, R.J., and Ren, J. “Crystal Structures of Penicillin-Binding Protein 3 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Comparison of Native and Antibiotic-Bound Forms” J.Mol.Biol. (2011) 405, 173-184. (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Bicillin L-A (Benzylpenicillin)” By DanZ – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia