Antibiotics Flashcards
Differential toxicity
Based on the concept that the drug is more toxic to the infecting organism than to the host
Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)
Minimum concentration of antibiotic required to INHIBIT the growth of the test organism
Minimum bactericidal concentration
Minimum concentration of antibiotic required to KILL the test organism
(allows less than 0.1% of the original inoculum to survive)
Prophylaxis
Antimicrobial agents are administered to prevent infection
Treatment
Antimicrobial agents are administered to cure existing or suspected infection
Therapeutic index
Toxic dose/ Effective dose
Drugs with a low TI may require therapeutic drug monitoring to ensure drug levels are both adequate for maximal efficacy, but not toxic to the patient
2 classes of drugs that have a small TI
Aminoglycosides
Vancomycin
What is the ideal antibiotic
No/low toxicity to the host (well tolerated)
Low propensity for development of resistance
Does not induce hyper-sensitivities in the host
Rapid and extensive tissue distribution
Relatively long half-life (10-12 hours)
Free of interactions with other drugs
Convenient for administration
Relatively cheap
4 advantages to combination therapy
- Treating polymicrobial infections
- Initial empiric therapy (broad coverage)
- Synergy
- May prevent the emergence of resistance (TB, S aureus, H pylori)
4 disadvantages of combination therapy
- Antagonism
- Cost
- Increased risk of side effects/drug drug interactions
- Usually not necessary for maximal efficacy
- Transformation
- Conjugation
- Transduction
- Transfer of free DNA
- Plasmid transfer
- Transfer by viral delivery
How long should you avoid repeating macrolide prescriptions to minimize resistance?
3 months
6 general mechanisms of resistance
- Altered permeability
- Inactivation/destruction of antibiotic
- Altered binding site
- Novel binding sites
- Efflux mechanisms
- Bypass of metabolic pathways
3 main classes of cell wall synthesis inhibitors
Beta lactams (penicillins, cephalosporins, carbapenems)
Glycopeptides (vancomycin)
Fosfomycin
2 examples of penicillins
Cloxacillin (anti-staphylococcal)
Piperacillin (anti-pseudomonal)
What changes as you move from first to fifth generation cephalosporins?
First is really good against gram positives
As you move up you lose gram positive and gain gram negative activity
Beta lactam drugs are substrate analogs of what?
D ala D ala
Competitive inhibitors of PBPs
Penicillin binding proteins
Essential enzymes involved in bacterial cell wall production
Transpeptidases
Target of beta lactam antibiotics
4 mechanisms of beta lactam resistance
- Production of a beta lactamase (most common)
- Altered PBP
- Novel PBP
- Altered permeability
What is the most common beta lactam/beta lactamase inhibitor combo?
Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid
2 examples of beta lactamase inhibitors
Clavulanic acid
Tazobactam
Glycopeptides
Vancomycin
Gram positives only!
Bind to the terminal D ala of nascent cell wall peptides and prevent cross linking of these peptides to form mature peptidoglycan
Sterically hinders its addition onto cell wall
Vancomyin resistance
how, effects, which 2 organisms
Bacteria substitudes D-lac for D-ala
Vancomycin cannot bind and you get normal cell wall synthesis
Enterococcus/ S aureus is main problem