Antibiotic Therapy

-Antibiotic therapy sounds like a long-term method for treating illnesses but it doesn’t have to be.

-The term refers to use of antibiotics to treat, prevent, or improve illness

-One concern with overuse of antibiotics is that it can cause certain bacteria to become resistant to
antibiotic strains. This means that physicians are now being encouraged to only prescribe antibiotics
when they feel that infection is certainly present

-Advocating antibiotic therapy for viruses is a mistake because this can lead to bacteria that are stronger
and more likely to resist standard drugs. It should be understand when people head to the doctor for
treatment, that contagion with viruses cannot be treated effectively with antibiotics, though in the past
some doctors may have viewed this subject more flippantly and been more likely to prescribe such
medications to prevent infection or if they felt there was remote and unlikely possibility of bacterial
involvement

-People with relatively minor infections may take a medication orally for several days to several weeks

-Infection could be so severe that people need intravenous antibiotics, usually administered in a hospital
setting, or injections of antibiotics

-Sometimes therapy means several months of treatment with an antibiotic, either in oral or intravenous
form

-There are also single dose treatments, called antibiotic prophylaxis, which might be administered prior
to a surgery, or for people who have heart disease or who have heart surgery, prior to dental visits

-Certain diseases or conditions may require daily antibiotic therapy, for life or the length of the disease

-Children born without a spleen or that have a splenectomy might need to take prophylactic antibiotics
to prevent severe infection, and this might be required for life

-Other times antibiotics are viewed as therapy for diseases that might have a bacterial element to them,
including some autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease

-For a person who is prescribed oral antibiotics, there are some important things that need to be
remembered. People should finish all of their medication, unless directed otherwise by a doctor. -Failing
to fully complete antibiotic therapy may result in return of an infection that is harder to kill

-Moreover, people should not use antibiotics that are left over to treat a new infection. Since bacteria
come in many forms, this may be inappropriate, and anyone who is ill should seek doctor’s advice
before self-prescribing antibiotics

PENICILLIN
-Penicillin, one of the first and still one of the most widely used antibiotic agents, derived from the
Penicillium mold

-In 1928 Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming first observed that colonies of the bacterium
Staphylococcus aureus failed to grow in those areas of a culture that had been accidentally
contaminated by the green mold Penicillium notatum. He isolated the mold, grew it in a fluid medium,
and found that it produced a substance capable of killing many of the common bacteria that infect
humans

-Australian pathologist Howard Florey and British biochemist Ernst Boris Chain isolated and purified
penicillin in the late 1930s, and by 1941 an injectable form of the drug was available for therapeutic use

-The several kinds of penicillin synthesized by various species of the mold Penicillium may be divided
into two classes:

 naturally occurring penicillins (those formed during the process of mold fermentation) and
 naturally occurring penicillins, penicillin G (benzylpenicillin) and penicillin V
(phenoxymethylpenicillin), are still used clinically
 Because of its poor stability in acid, much of penicillin G is broken down as it passes through
the stomach; as a result of this characteristic, it must be given by intramuscular injection,
which limits its usefulness
 Penicillin V, on the other hand, typically is given orally; it is more resistant to digestive acids
than penicillin G
 Semisynthetic penicillins (those in which the structure of a chemical substance—6-
aminopenicillanic acid—found in all penicillins is altered in various ways)
 Some of the semisynthetic penicillins are also more acid-stable and thus may be given as
oral medication

-All penicillins work in the same way—namely, by inhibiting the bacterial enzymes responsible for cell
wall synthesis in replicating microorganisms and by activating other enzymes to break down the
protective wall of the microorganism

 As a result, they are effective only against microorganisms that are actively replicating and
producing cell walls; they also therefore do not harm human cells (which fundamentally lack cell
walls)

-Penicillin antibiotics are used to treat many types of infections caused by susceptible bacteria

 They are used to treat infections of the middle ear, sinuses, throat, stomach and intestines,
bladder, and kidney.
 They also are used for treating pneumonia, blood infections (sepsis), uncomplicated gonorrhea,
meningitis, endocarditis, and other serious infections

-The chief side effects of penicillin are hypersensitivity reactions, including skin rash, hives, swelling, and
anaphylaxis, or allergic shock
  The more serious reactions are uncommon
 Milder symptoms may be treated with corticosteroids but usually are prevented by switching to
alternative antibiotics
 Anaphylactic shock, which can occur in previously sensitized individuals within seconds or
minutes, may require immediate administration of epinephrine

-Penicillin antibiotics have few important drug interactions

 Probenecid (Benemid) causes an increase in the amount of penicillins in the body by preventing
excretion of penicillin by the kidneys
 Combining ampicillin with allopurinol (Zyloprim) can increase the incidence of drug-related skin
rash
 Penicillin antibiotics may reduce the effect of BCG live vaccine and typhoid live vaccine

-Penicillin antibiotics are available as

 tablets
 capsules
 powder for oral suspension
 powder for injection

References:

https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-antibiotic-therapy/

https://www.britannica.com/science/penicillin/

https://www.medicinenet.com/penicillins-injection/how_do_penicillin_antibiotics_work/