1. Treatment of Infectious Disease

2. Antimicrobial agents
Chemical substances that either kill microbes or prevent their growth
Term “antibiotic” means “destroyer of life:
Often refers to drugs used to treat bacterial infections
Can be either microbistatic or microbicidal
Microbistatic-inhibits or prevents the growth of microbes
Microbicidal-kills the microbe

3. Treatment of Bacterial Diseases
These drugs target structural functions and metabolic characteristics of the bacteria.
Can be grouped into categories based on mode of action

4. Mode of Action Inhibit cell wall synthesis Inhibit protein synthesis
Inhibit nucleic acid synthesis
Or inhibit some other chemical reaction

5. Penicillins Mode of action: interferes with cell wall snythesis
Treats: ear infections, sepsis, wound infections, etc
Important to take all of the prescribed medication

6. Cephalosporins Mode of action: interferes with cell wall synthesis
Treats: skin and soft tissue infections, and can be used in place of penicillin if allergy is present

7. Tetracycline Inhibits protein synthesis
Treats: H.pylori, skin infections, UTI’s and STD’s
Can have severe side effects including interfering with bone formation in a developing fetus, also causes sun sensitivity

8. Erythromycin Inhibit protein synthesis
Treats: endocarditis, rheumatic fever, and gonorrhea
Can make skin more sensitive to sunlight
Caution! can be toxic if used in high doses for prolonged periods of time

9. Rifampicin Inhibits RNA synthesis Treats: Tuberculosis
Can stain contact lenses

10. Sulfonomides Interferes with nucleic acid synthesis
Treats: kidney infections and other UTI’s
Can have allergic reactions

11. Treatment of Viral Illnesses
Drugs that inhibit viral infections are highly toxic to host cells because viruses use the host’s metabolism
Most illnesses due to virus are treated symptomatically until the immune system eliminates the virus

12. Acyclovir Antiviral: Inhibits nucleic acid synthesis
Treats: herpes simplex viruses including Herpes Zoster viruses

13. Amantadine
Antiviral used to prevent or decrease the symptoms of influenza among those that are at risk
Inhibit replication of virus

14. AZT Antiviral: Inhibits the HIV genome Treats the symptoms of HIV
Patients are also prescribed proteases that interfere with the packaging of the HIV genome into virus particles

15. Treatment of Fungal and Parasitic Diseases
Challenging due to the toxicity to human tissue
These medication target the pathogens’ replicative pathway

16. Antifungal drugs Inhibit sterol synthesis or disrupt the cell membrane
Treats: systemic fungal infections and histoplasmosis
Can be toxic to human tissue
Amphotericin B used for systemic fungal infections

17. Antihelminthic drugs Target adult worms that no longer replicate
Mode of action: inhibit fundamental processes like muscle function
Treats: helminth infectious in animals, trichinella spirialis and avermectins (lice)

18. Antiprotozoan drugs
Malaria was successfully treated for years with Quinine(also Chloroquine)
Recently, a certain species has become resistant to this drug
In these areas, a combination of sulfonamide and pyrimethamine are used

19. Robert Koch
1870’s studied Anthrax Developed Koch’s Postulates: Because of this scientists identified the bacterial cause of many disease

20. Edward Jenner
1798 Jenner noticed patients who had a milder disease of cowpox were immune to smallpox.
He scatched the skin of patients with cowpox to immunize against small pox

21. Louis Pasteur
Used heat to sterilize culture media Pasteurization is named in his honor now used to kill bacteria in a variety of beverages

22. Joseph Lister
Sprayed surgical rooms with aqueous phenol to reduce wound infection

23. Alexander Fleming
Discovered substance in Penicillium mold killed staphylococcal bacteria, named it penicillin.

24. Antimicrobial Resistance
What causes antimicrobial resistance?
What responsibilities does the medical community have?
How can the general public prevent the problem?

25. Resistance to Antimicrobal Agents
Resistance to antimicrobals has been an ongoing problem for decades
This phenomenon has existed since antibiotics were introduced
by Alexander Fleming-Penicillin
Many pathogens are gaining a resistance to multiple drugs

26. Resistance to Antimicrobal Agents
Resistance to antimicrobals results from changing in genes or acquisition of genes
This allows the pathogen to resist the mode of action of the drug