What is Pip Taz?

Answer 1

"Pip taz" is short for the antibiotic combination of piperacillin and tazobactam. In the US it is marketed as Zosyn and must be given intervenously or intramuscularly. Piperacillin is an extended spectrum penicillin which "attacks" the cell wall of both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Tazobactam is a beta-lactamase inhibitor -- a substance that is not an antibiotic itself, but makes it harder for bacteria to destroy the piperacillin. This makes the antibiotic more effective. "Pip taz" is commonly used against a particular difficult-to-manage microbe, pseudomonas aeruginosa.