Lecture 21- Antimicrobials Flashcards
antibiotic resistance timeline

multi-drug resistant
non-susceptibility to at least one agent in three or more antimicrobial categories

extensively drug resistant (XDR)
non-susceptibility to at least one agent in all but two or fewer antimicrobial categories

Pan-drug resistant (PDR)
non-susceptibility to all agents in all antimicrobial categories

Antimicrobial stewardship summarised to:
- Appropriate use of antimicrobials
- Optimal clinical outcomes
- Minimize toxicity and other adverse events
- Reduce the costs of health care for infections
- Limit the selection for antimicrobial resistant strains.

Antibiotic choice
- Main thing to focus on is the history/presenting complaint
- If a patient presents with a respiratory tract illness, you should obviously think of a respiratory pathogen, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, and choose your antibiotic appropriately following guidelines
- Follow local guidelines as much as possible, as regional sensitivity/resistance is a thing
before you start Abx you should
obtain microbiological samples pertinent to the suspected infection; this will allow laboratory testing for sensitivity and resistance, thus allow you to give more focused treatment
antibiotic guidelines consider
- which pathogen is most likely causative for a given infection type?
- characteristics of pathogen e.g. Gram , anaerobic vs aerobic
- does it reach the site of infection
- is it available in right forumulation
clinician must also consider
- corret formulation?
- half life/dosing frequency?
- does it interact with other drugs
- toxicity concers
- does antibiotic require therapeutic drug monitoring
- allergy
Outline CURB and use for this example

- use CURB-65 score to assess pts pneumonia severity
- her CURB-65= 1
- commubity acquired pneumonia

What are our main considerations for trying to work out the causative organism in this case?

- Respiratory tract infection
- Elderly
- Non-smoker
- Teetotal
- No recent travel
Based on the above, we can assume the likely causative organism is Streptococcus pneumoniae (followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Haemophilus influenzae)
treatment for streptococcus pneumoniae causing pneumonia
- Strep pneumoniae = Gram +ve cocci
- In any case, knowing the most likely organism will lead you to prescribe either a beta-lactam or a tetracycline antibiotic

Different antibiotics have different modes of action, owing to the nature of their structure and degree of affinity to certain target sites within bacterial cells.
Inhibitors of cell wall synthesis. …
Inhibitors of cell membrane function. …
Inhibitors of protein synthesis. …
Inhibitors of nucleic acid synthesis.
main cell wall synthesis inhibitors
Beta-lactams
- penicillins
- cephalosporins
- cerbapenems
beta-lactams
- Bacteria cell wall peptidoglycan
- Generally bactericidal

Penicillin
- Named for the fungal penicillium from which it is derived
- Individual sensitivity testing often required, particularly in secondary care
- think allergy

Co-amoxiclav
Clavulanic acid + amoxicillin
- Clavulanic acid= Beta lactamase inhibitor
- Beta- lactamase is an enzyme used by certain bacteria to break down Beta-lactam antibiotic molecular structure
- Clavulanic acid is commonly combined with amoxicillin in order to overcome this issue = co-amoxiclav
uses of co-amoxiclav
- Bacterial meningitis
- Bone and joint infections
- Skin and soft tissue infections
- Otits media
- Pneumonia
- UTIs
- STIs
Cephalosporins
- Name from fungal cephalosporium acreminum from which they are derived
- Individual sensitivity testing often required, particularly in secondary care

cephalosporin uses
-
Uses
- Septicaemia
- Pneumonia
- Meningitis
- Biliary tract infections
- UTIs (especially in pregnancy or in patients unresponsive to other drugs)
- Sinusitis
carbopenems
e.g. meropenem, imipenem
antibacterials which target bacterial protein synthesis
- Tetracyclines
- Aminoglycosides
- Macrolides
- nitrofurans
Tetracyclines
- Following uptake into susceptible organisms by active transport, tetracyclines act by inhibiting protein synthesis
- Bind to bacterial ribosomes, preventing binding of tRNA to it, thus preventing the initiation of protein synthesis
- Bacteriostatic
- Common examples (oral only):
- Doxycycline
- Tetracycline
- Individual sensitivity testing often required, particularly in secondary care



