تسجيل الدخول

تسجيل

Principles of Antimicrobial Therapy

المؤلف:  Peter Chin-Hong, Elizabeth A. Joyce, Manjiree Karandikar, Mehrdad Matloubian, Luis Alberto Rubio, Brian S. Schwartz, Warren Levinson

المصدر:  Levinsons Review of Medical Microbiology & Immunology: A Guide to Clinical Infectious Diseases (2024)

الجزء والصفحة:  18th E , P64

2026-08-27

50

The most important concept underlying antimicrobial therapy is selective toxicity (i.e., selective growth inhibition of the microorganism without damage to the host). Selective toxicity exploits the differences between the metabolism and structure of the microorganism and the corresponding features of human cells. For example, penicillins and cephalosporins are effective antibacterial agents because they prevent the synthesis of peptidoglycan that is found only in bacteria cells. Antimicrobial drugs target four major sites in the bacterial cell: cell wall, ribosomes, nucleic acids, and cell membrane (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Fig1. Model of typical bacterial cell showing sites of action of important antibacterial drugs.

Table1. Mechanism of Action of Important Antibacterial Drugs

Broad-spectrum antibiotics are active against several types of microorganisms (e.g., tetracyclines are active against many gram-negative rods, chlamydiae, mycoplasmas, and rickettsiae). Narrow-spectrum antibiotics are active against one or very few types (e.g., vancomycin is primarily used against certain gram-positive cocci, namely, staphylococci and enterococci).