Antimicrobial chemotherapy

Question 1

What causes syphilis and how is it transmitted?

Answer 1

Caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum and is sexually transmitted

Question 2

Paul Ehrlich was the first person to develop chemotherapy. True or false?

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Salvarsan treated sleeping sickness and made syphilis a curable disease. True or false?

Answer 3

False - made syphilis curable but did not treat sleeping sickness

Question 4

Neosalvarsan was also developed and used for treatment of syphilis. It was however, more toxic and more water soluble than Salvarsan. True or false?

Answer 4

False - more water soluble but less toxic than Salvarsan

Question 5

What is salvarsan’s mechanism of action?

Answer 5

It is a prodrug that is oxidised slowly to oxophenarsine. Oxophenarsine reacts with thiol groups in proteins, causing denaturation

Question 6

What drug is used to treat MRSA and multi-resistant strep pneumoniae?

Answer 6

Vancomycin