Trichomycin (hachimycin in the INN) was found in the mycelium of Streptomyces hachijoensis by Hosoya et al. of the University of Tokyo in 1952. It has a heptaene structure and once was considered identical with two other polyene macrolide antibiotics, candicidin (found by Waksman et al. of Rutgers University in 1953 in S. griseus) and hamycin (found by Thirumalachar et al. of Hindustan Antibiotics Research Institute in 1961 in S. pimprina). Its difference from them was shown by an HPLC comparison in 1980. Trichomycin shows activity against pathogenic Candida, Trichomonas, and Trypanosoma and has been used in vaginal applications to treat Trichomonas vaginalis infections.
