Micropara 3

• Chemotherapeutic agents


  Any drug used to treat any condition or disease
• Antimicrobial agents


  Any chemical (drug) used to treat an infectious disease, either by inhibiting or by killing pathogens in vivo
• Antibacterial agents


  Drugs used to treat bacterial diseases
• Antifungal agents


  Drugs used to treat fungal diseases
• Antiprotozoal agents


  Drugs used to treat protozoal diseases
• Antiviral agents


  Drugs used to treat viral diseases
• Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915): 'The Father of Chemotherapy'
• Alexander Fleming (1881-1955): 'Accidentally discovered the first antibiotic, Penicillin'
• Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain: 'Purified penicillin and demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of various bacterial infections'
• Gerhard Domagk: 'Discovered that the red dye Prontosil was effective against streptococcal infection in mice'
• Selman Waksman: 'Isolated streptomycin (the first antituberculosis drug) and subsequently discovered antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, tetracycline, and erythromycin'
• Ideal antimicrobial agent


  • Kills or inhibits the growth of pathogens
  • Causes no damage to the host
  • Causes no allergic reaction in the host
  • Is stable when stored in solid or liquid form
  • Remains in specific tissues in the body long enough to be effective
  • Kills the pathogens before they mutate and become resistant to it
• Bacteriostatic


  Inhibits growth of bacteria (as opposed to a bactericidal agent, which kills bacteria)
• Narrow-spectrum antibiotics


  Kill either Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria
• Broad-spectrum antibiotics


  Kill both Gram positives and Gram negatives
• β-lactam ring


  Four-sided ring structure in the molecular structure of penicillins
• β-lactam antibiotics


  Penicillins and cephalosporins
• β-lactamase


  Bacterial enzymes that destroy the β-lactam ring
• Major groups of bacterial enzymes that destroy the β-lactam ring


  • Not provided
• Epidemiology


  The study of factors that determine the frequency, distribution and determinants of diseases in human populations and ways to prevent, control or eradicate diseases in populations
• Actions clinicians and/or patients can take to help in the war against drug resistance

  • Not provided
• Epidemiologists


  • Scientists who specialize in the study of disease and injury patterns (incidence and distribution patterns) in populations and ways to prevent or control diseases and injuries
  • They study virtually all types of diseases, including heart, hereditary, communicable, and zoonotic diseases and cancer
• Empiric therapy


  Not provided
• Factors that influence disease frequency, distribution and determinants

  • Lack of immunizations
  • Nutritional status
  • Inadequate sanitation procedures
  • Locations (reservoirs) where pathogens are lurking
  • The various ways in which infectious diseases are transmitted
• Factors a clinician would take into consideration before prescribing an antimicrobial agent for a particular patient

  • Not provided
• Communicable disease


  An infectious disease that is transmissible from one person to another
• Undesirable effects of antimicrobial agents

  • Not provided
• Contagious disease


  A communicable disease that is easily transmitted from one person to another
• Superinfection


  Not provided
• Communicable diseases


  • Gonorrhea
  • Influenza
• Synergism


  Not provided
• Zoonotic disease


  Infectious diseases that humans acquire from animal sources
• Antagonism


  Not provided
• Incidence


  The number of new cases of a disease in a defined population during a specific time period
• How antimicrobial agents work

  1. Inhibition of cell wall synthesis

  2. Damage to cell membranes

  3. Inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis (either DNA or RNA synthesis)

  4. Inhibition of protein synthesis

  5. Inhibition of enzyme activity
• Morbidity rate


  The number of new cases of a particular disease that occurred during a specified time period per a specifically defined population
• Sulfonamide drugs


  • Inhibit production of folic acid in bacteria
  • Bacteriostatic
• Period prevalence


  The number of cases of a disease existing in a given population during a specific time period
• Penicillins


  • β-lactam drugs
  • Interfere with the synthesis of bacterial cell walls
  • Bactericidal
• Point prevalence


  The number of cases of a disease existing in a given population at a particular moment in time