Antimicrobial Agents Sample Essay

Antimicrobial Agents Sample Essay

Antimicrobial Agents Antimicrobial agents are essential components in the treatment of various bacterial infections as they help to kill or prevent the growth of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and protozoans. Prior to the discovery of antimicrobial agents, treatment options for patients with bacterial infections were limited. For many patients, treatment often resulted in the amputation of limbs or even death. Today, treatment options for bacterial infections typically have a more positive prognosis. Due to the various types of infections presented in patients, it is essential to be able to identify the underlying cause of the infection—whether bacterial or viral—before recommending drug treatments. This will help you identify whether or not an antimicrobial agent would be appropriate and which specific agent would target the infection. In this Assignment, you consider the appropriate use of antimicrobial agents for infections. To prepare: • Review this week’s media presentation on principles of antimicrobial therapy, as well as Chapter 8 of the Arcangelo and Peterson text. • Consider the categories of antimicrobial agents. • Think about differences between viral and bacterial infections. • Reflect on why proper identification of the infection is key to selecting the proper antimicrobial agent. By Day 7 Write at least a 2- page paper that addresses the following: • Describe the categories of antimicrobial agents. • Describe differences between viral and bacterial infections. • Explain why proper identification of viral and bacterial infections is key to selecting the proper antimicrobial agent.  Antimicrobial Agents Sample Essay

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Antimicrobial agents include biostatic antimicrobial agents (inhibit microbial growth) and micro-biocidal agents (kill microorganisms). Different types of antimicrobial agents include:  Antimicrobial Agents Sample Essay

• Antibiotics: Are used in prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. They slow or inhibit bacterial growth or kill the bacteria.
• Synthetic antimicrobial agents: They target a specific microbe and are normally chemically synthesized. For instance, there are antivirals, antifungals etc.
• Semi-synthetic antimicrobial agents: These include antibiotics that are chemically modified such as methicillin and amoxicillin (Gould, 2016).

Categories of Antibiotics

• Penicillin: Acts by killing susceptible bacteria through inhibition of the transpeptidase. Therefore transpeptidase is not able to catalyze the process of biosynthesis of the cell wall. Penicillin is used in treatment of various infections such as chest infections, UTI, skin infections etc (Etbu & Arikekpa, 2016).
• Cephalosporins: They inhibit the process of peptidoglycan in the cell wall of the bacteria. Cephalosporins:  are used in treatment of various infections including serious infections like meningitis and septicaemia (Jansen et al, 2017).
• Macrolides: There mechanism of action is through inhibition of bacterial protein. They are effective in treatment of lung and chest infections, as well as an alternative regimen for individuals who are allergic to penicillin (Tiphaine et al, 2016).
• Aminoglycosides: They inhibit synthesis of protein in the bacteria. They are used in treatment of serious infections like septicaemia.
• Fluoroquinolones: Their mechanism of action is by inhibiting bacteria to synthesize its DNA and hence hinder bacterial replication. Additionally, they are broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents and hence are utilized in the treatment of broad range infections.
• Tetracyclines: They bind the 30S subunit of the ribosome and hence inhibit the protein synthesis. Inhibition of the protein synthesis results to cell death of the bacteria’s cells (Jansen et al, 2017).

Comparison of Viral and Bacterial Infections

Bacteria cause bacterial infections while viruses cause viral infections. Reproduction of bacteria is through division and not all bacteria are harmful to the body. After the body becomes contaminated with a bacterial infection, an individual becomes sick. On the other hand, viruses are non-living organisms even though they have genetic material. Viruses cannot survive outside the body and they need a living host to multiply and survive (Sweeney et al, 2016). When the virus enters the body, the virus enters certain cell and starts multiplying and producing new viruses eventually even killing the host cells. In addition, antibacterial antibiotics are used in the treatment of bacterial infections whereas antiviral antibiotics are used in treating some viral infections. Examples of bacterial infections include TB, Urinary tract infections and streptococcus throat infection.  On the other hand, examples of viral infections include common cold, HIV, chicken pox etc (Sweeney et al, 2016).

Proper Identification of Viral and Bacterial Infections

The importance of ensuring accurate identification of viral and bacterial infections when selecting microbial agents is to avoid drug resistance. This is because when an individual is administered with the antimicrobial for the wrong infection such a person can end up developing resistance for such the antimicrobial (Cheng et al, 2016). In addition, improper identification of the infections ensures that the exact infection is not treated which causes microbes responsible for the infection to evolve and become resistant. Finally, proper identification also facilitates correct usage of vaccination and immunization to prevent and curb microbes from cause infections (Cheng et al, 2016).   Antimicrobial Agents Sample Essay

References

Cheng G, Dai M, Ahmed S, Hao H, Wang X & Yuan Z. (2016). Antimicrobial Drugs in Fighting against Antimicrobial Resistance. Front Microbiol. 7(470).

Gould K. (2016). Antibiotics: from prehistory to the present day. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 71(3), 572–575.

Etbu E & Arikekpa I. (2016). Antibiotics: Classification and mechanisms of action with emphasis on molecular perspectives. Int. J. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. Res. 4(1),  90-101.

Jansen L, Bolck Y, Rademaker J, Tina Z & Bjorn B. (2017). The analysis of tetracyclines, quinolones, macrolides, lincosamides, pleuromutilins, and sulfonamides in chicken feathers using UHPLC-MS/MS in order to monitor antibiotic use in the poultry sector. Anal Bioanal Chem. 409(21), 4927–4941.

Sweeney T, Wong H & Khatri P. (2016). Robust classification of bacterial and viral infections via integrated host gene expression diagnostics. Sci Transl Med.  8(346), 346ra91.

Tiphaine G, Dormoi J, Madamet M & Bruno P. (2016). Macrolides and associated antibiotics based on similar mechanism of action like lincosamides in malaria. Malar J. 15(85).  Antimicrobial Agents Sample Essay