Infections

Question 1

paralyzes the muscles of intestinal roundworms

Answer 1

Pyrantel
antihelminthic

Question 2

Used for Tapeworm and fluke infections

Answer 2

Praziquantel

Question 3

Veterinary drug used for strongyloidiasis and oncocerosis in humans.

Answer 3

Ivermicin

Question 4

Unique challenges in the chemotherapeutic treatment of viruses

Answer 4

Infectious agent relies on a host cell for the vast majority of its metabolic functions.
Disrupting viral metabolism requires disruption of cellular metabolism.
Measles, mumps, and hepatitis are prevented through the use of vaccines.
AIDS, influenza, and the common cold attest to the need for more effective medications for the treatment of viral infection.

Question 5

Major modes of action of antiviral agents:

Answer 5

Barring penetration of the virus into the host cell

Blocking transcription and translation of viral molecules

Preventing maturation of viral particles

Question 6

DRACO is

Answer 6

: “double-stranded RNA-activated caspase oligomerizer”
Breakthrough antiviral treatment currently being tested

Question 7

What is drug resistance, What is it due to? Intrinsic or acquired?

Answer 7

An adaptive response in which microorganisms begin to tolerate an amount of drug that would normally be inhibitory.

Due to the genetic versatility and adaptability of microbial populations

Can be intrinsic as well as acquired

Question 8

Resistance to penicillin developed in some bacteria as early as

Answer 8

1940

Question 9

In the 1980s and 1990s scientists began to observe treatment failures on a large scale
Microbes become newly resistant to a drug after one of the following occurs:

Answer 9

Spontaneous mutations in critical chromosomal genes

Acquisition of entire new genes or sets of genes via horizontal transfer from another species

Question 10

Chromosomal drug resistance:
results from? How are slight changes overcome? What are persisters?

Answer 10

Usually results from spontaneous random mutation

Slight changes in drug sensitivity can be overcome with larger doses of drug.

“Persisters”: slowing or stopping of metabolism so that the microbe can’t be harmed by the antibiotic

Question 11

4 ways resistance are shared through horizontal transfer include

Answer 11

1) Resistance (R) factors: plasmids containing antibiotic resistance genes
Can be transferred through conjugation, transformation, or transduction
2) Plasmids encoded with drug resistance are naturally present in microbes before they have been exposed to an antibiotic
3) Transposons also duplicate and insert genes for drug resistance into plasmids
4)Sharing of resistance genes accounts for the rapid proliferation of drug-resistant species

Question 12

plasmids containing antibiotic resistance genes
Can be transferred through conjugation, transformation, or transduction

Answer 12

Resistance (R) factors

Question 13

naturally present in microbes before they have been exposed to an antibiotic

Answer 13

Plasmids encoded with drug resistance

Question 14

also duplicate and insert genes for drug resistance into plasmids

Answer 14

transposons

Question 15

resistance genes accounts for the rapid proliferation of drug-resistant species

Answer 15

sharing of

Question 16

RNA interference startegies, What are they? What are they used for?

Answer 16

Small pieces of RNA that regulate the expression of genes
Used to shut down the metabolism of pathogenic microbes
Drug trials have begun to evaluate the effectiveness of synthetic RNAs in treating hepatitis C and respiratory syncytial virus.

Question 17

Mimicking defense peptide molecules

Answer 17

Peptides of 20 – 50 amino acids secreted as part of the mammalian innate immune system called defensin, magainins, and protegrins

Bacteria also produce defense peptides called bacteriocins and antibiotics.

Insert into membranes and target other structures in cells

May be more effective than narrowly targeted drugs and less likely to foster resistance