Untitled Flashcards Set

Key Terms/Concepts

• Chemotherapy: The use of drugs to treat diseases, particularly cancer and infections.

• Selective Toxicity: The principle that a drug should harm the pathogen but not the host, allowing for effective treatment with minimal side effects.

• Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC): The smallest concentration of a drug that visibly inhibits the growth of a pathogen.

Key People

• Paul Ehrlich: Developed the concept of selective toxicity and discovered Salvarsan, the first effective treatment for syphilis.

• Alexander Fleming: Discovered penicillin in 1928, the first naturally produced antimicrobial.

• Howard Florey and Ernst Chain: Worked on scaling up penicillin production and demonstrated its efficacy in the early 1940s.

• Domagk: Discovered Prontosil, the first synthetic antimicrobial drug.

Fundamental Theories

Key Drugs

• Penicillin: A beta-lactam antibiotic effective against certain Gram-positive bacteria, but can cause allergic reactions.

• Ampicillin: Inhibits peptidoglycan biosynthesis, effective against some Gram-negative bacteria.

• Tetracyclines: Antibiotics that halt translation by targeting ribosomal differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

• Rifampin: Interferes with RNA synthesis, effective against tuberculosis and can cause liver damage.

• Nystatin: An antifungal used against Candida infections.

• Amphotericin B: Used for serious systemic fungal infections.

Key Complications

• Antibiotic Resistance: Occurs due to improper use of antibiotics, leading to the overgrowth of resistant strains and potential superinfections.

• Superinfection Examples:

  • Urinary tract infections leading to vaginal yeast infections due to antibiotic use.

  • Antibiotic-associated colitis caused by Clostridium difficile after broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy.

Facts to Memorize

• Paul Ehrlich's Compound 606 (Salvarsan) was the first successful antimicrobial drug against Treponema pallidum.

• Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.

• Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) is the smallest concentration of drug that visibly inhibits growth.

• Broad-spectrum antibiotics affect many taxonomic groups, while narrow-spectrum antibiotics affect only a few pathogens.

• Common mechanisms of antibiotic resistance include altered metabolic pathways, antibiotic inactivation, and active export of antibiotics.

Reference Information

• Selective toxicity: A drug should harm the pathogen but not the host.

• Antibiotic resistance can occur due to improper or excessive use of antibiotics.

• Superinfections can occur when normal flora is disrupted by antibiotics.

Concept Comparisons