Week 8 - Antibiotics

Question 1

Bactericidal

Answer 1

Means to kill bacteria directly. This can lead to the release of toxins and inflammatory material.

Question 2

Bacteriostatic

Answer 2

To stop bacteria from growing. Requires additional factors to actually clear the bacteria from the immune system.

Question 3

Guided therapy

Answer 3

selecting specific drugs based on sensitivity testing

Question 4

empirical therapy

Answer 4

when therapy cannot wait for culture (severe infection for example), we can use an educated guess based on clinical judgement

Question 5

prophylactic therapy

Answer 5

preventing infection before it actually happens e.g surgery

Question 6

6 antibiotic targets in bacterial cells

Answer 6

cell wall synthesis inhibitors
protein synthesis inhibitors
DNA gyrase inhibitor (enzyme that catalyses DNA coiling)
DNA-directed RNA polymerase inhibitors

Question 7

How does penicillin function

Answer 7

It targets the cell wall and inhibits the production of peptidoglycan making cells leaky and fragile.

Question 8

Which type of hypersensitivity is associated with penicillin allergy

Answer 8

Type 1 hypersensitivity

Question 9

What is a problem with over reporting of penicillin allergy

Answer 9

Since only 1% of patients have a significant allergy to penicillin (compared to 10% who are reported as having an allergy), sometimes they could actually have penicillin since other alternatives are associated with poorer outcomes

Question 10

Penicillin targets

Answer 10

cell wall

Question 11

other drugs other than penicillin that target the cell wall

Answer 11

beta-lactams

Question 12

Antibiotic that targets gram +ve bacteria

Answer 12

vancomycin

Question 13

2 antibiotics that target the bacterial ribosomes

Answer 13

clarithromycin

doxycline