Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic useful for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections.This includes as an eye ointment to treat conjunctivitis.By mouth or by injection into a vein it is used to treat meningitis, plague, cholera, and typhoid fever. Its use by mouth or by injection is only recommended when safer antibiotics cannot be used and if used monitoring both blood levels of the medication and blood cell levels every two days is recommended during treatment.