Antimicrobial teaching Flashcards
What are the main causes of infection?
Bacteria
Fungi (yeasts and moulds)
Viruses
Parasites
What is a bacteria?
Bacteria are a domain of taxonomy
Single celled organism with phospholipid bilayer membranes
Only a subset infect humans - staph.aureus, E.coli, strep.pneumonia
What are fungi?
Are eukaryotes
Have a cell wall, can be classified as yeasts or moulds.
Only a subset infection humans - candida, aspergillus.
What is a virus?
What are some common causes of infection in humans?
Viruses replicate inside living cells of a cellular organism.
Only a subset infect humans - SARS-2 coronavirus, Influenza, measles, EBV.
What is included as a parasite?
What are the different types?
An organism that lives on or in another organism and thrives on nutrients from the host as the host expense.
Protozoa - (singled celled typically found in infected food/water) plasmodium, amoebae
Helmiths - (multicellular typically found in the digestive system) tapeworm, flatworms
Ecroparastites - (multicellular, found on skin, live off blood etc)arthropods, lice, mites etc
What is the basic difference between antibiotics and antispetics?
Antibiotics - bind to specific targets, typically treat established infections.
Antiseptics - act more generally, typically clean surfaces/skin
What drugs tend to be active against multiple different causes (viral, bacterial, fungal etc) causes of infection?
Metronidazole = flagella parasites and anaerobic bacteria
Co-trimoxazole = bacteria and pneumocystis jirovecii.
What are the different clinical ways that antibiotics mat be used?
Treatment - curative ‘course’ or suppressive (tends to be indefinite)
Prevention - prophylaxis before the event or pre-emptive therapy after exposure.
What empirical treatment is used for urosepsis?
Co-amoxicalv +/- gentamicin for suspected urosepsis.
What is meant by broadening antibiotic treatment?
Often called escalation
Patient not improving - possibility of treatment failure - changing to a broader spectrum agent
Very often failure to improve is not because of antibiotic failure
What is meant by the term changing antibiotic use?
Response to new information suggesting that current treatment won’t work.
For example cultures show resistance to antibiotics being used
What is meant by the term narrowing antibiotic use?
Sometimes called de-escalation
Taking opportunity to change to a safer or more targeted agent
Seeking to maintain activity but reduce risks.
What are the different types of beta-lactams?
Give an example of each
Penicillins - amoxicillin
Cephalosporins - ceftazidime
Monobactams - aztreonam
Carbapenems - imipenem
Generall cell wall targeting antibiotics are xxxx and ribosomal agents are xxxx.
Bacteriocidal
Bacteriostatic
What is the basic mechanism of action of beta-lactams?
Chem - contains a beta lactam ring
Inhibits systhesis of the peptidoglycan layer, by covalents/irrevesibly dining to and inhibiting the action of transpeptidase enzymes (PBPs) which are involved in cross linking.
This disruption weakens the cell wall, leading to bacterial lysis and death.
What pathogens typically cause cellulitis?
Streptococcus pyogenes
Or staphylococcus aureaus
What is the typical antibiotic treatment used for cellulitis?
Flucloxacillin - first line
Alternatives: ceftriaxone, clindamycin.
What are some example glycopeptides?
Vancomycin
Teicoplanin
Dalbavancin
Oritavancin
What is the action of glycopeptides?
Only active against gram-positive organisms.
Not absorbed PO.
Inhibits bacterial cell wall synthesis by binding to the D-ala-D-ala terminus of peptidoglycan precursors, preventing incoporoprtation into the growing cell wall.
What are the typically used of a glycopeptide antibiotic?
Vancomycin is used PO for C.difficile infections
Vancoycin and tecioplanin can be for line-related infections (norm beta lactam resistance gram positives)
What are some examples of macrolides?
Macrolides - erythromycin, clarithromycin.
Azalides - azithromycin
Lincosamides - clindamycin
What is the basic mechanism of action of macrolides?
Bind to 50S ribosomal subunit
It inhibits protein synthesis by blocking the polypeptide exit tunnel, which prevents peptide chain prolongation.
Leads to the production of the short peptides of 3-9 amino acids.
Prevents cell division/growth
What are the main indications for macrolides?
Alternatives to penicillins in many situations
Specific use:
Legionella and other atypical pneumonia
Chlamydia trachomatis
Azithromycin - resp prophylaxis
Clindamycin - 2nd line in cellulitis.
What antibiotic classes tend to be used to treat pneumonia?
A beta lactam +/- a macrolide