Antimicrobial Medications Flashcards
Which 2 groups of microbes are the sources of most clinically useful antibiotics? From the perspective of the microbes, why do they make antibiotics?
Bacteria and fungi, molds and yeasts, are the source of most antibiotics that we use clinically, that we use in a therapeutic capacity.
They are produced in nature by soil bacteria and fungi. This gives the microbe an advantage when competing for food and water and other limited resources in a particular habitat, as the antibiotic kills off their competition.
What is the strict definition of an antibiotic? In other words, what is a true antibiotic?
–Includes purely human-made molecules such as
sulfanilamide (synthetic antimicrobial medications)
–Includes naturally occurring antibiotics that are
modified by humans (semi-synthetic antibiotics)
–Some sources use antibiotics only to refer to
antibacterial medications, and do not consider
antifungal, anti-helminthic, and antiprotozoal
medications to be antibiotics
–Most sources agree that antibiotics are distinct from
antiviral medications
a small compound, a small molecule, that is produced by one microbe and at a very low concentration kills a second microbe, or inhibits the growth of that second microbe, then you’re talking about an antibiotic.
penicillum makes penicillin
Explain what a semi-synthetic antimicrobial is. Where does it come from? Why are they made?
Semi means half. Synthetic means human made and so semi synthetic means that this is a compound that was half made by humans and half made by some kind of microbe.
you modify it so that it has better characteristics. we call it a semi synthetic antibiotic. You’re usually trying to change the targets or change the distribution or reduce the side effects of the antibiotic–something that makes it a more useful drug.
Amoxicilan
Explain what a synthetic antimicrobial is.
there are these compounds that are purely human made, 100% artificial, you might say. Completely made by human beings never made by a microbe.
an example of this would be Cipro. Cipro which is short for Ciprofloxacin is a compound that is produced entirely in the laboratory or entirely in the chemical manufacturing industry. And it is useful in small amounts to kill or inhibit the growth of microbes. So in some ways it’s very similar to an antibiotic.
Why are semi-synthetic antimicrobials and synthetic antimicrobials frequently referred to as antibiotics?
these three types of drugs, the true antibiotics, the semi synthetic antibiotics, and the synthetic antimicrobials are all called casually antibiotics. And so when someone says antibiotic, they might actually be referring to something like Cipro which is not derived from a micro organism. Adding to this a little confusion. Some people say that true antibiotics, that in order for something to qualify as an antibiotic, it must attack bacteria.
Antibiotic can definitely be used to refer to the medicines that are used to fight bacteria.
There’s debate about whether that term should be used to apply to the medicines that fight fungi, protozoans, and helminths.
Which microbes are targeted by antimicrobial medications that are sometimes called antibiotics? What are more specific terms for these antimicrobial medications? Which one group of antimicrobial medications are not called antibiotics?
