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3.7.9 - Mechanism of Action and Activity of Commonly Used Antibiotics

from Section 3.7 - Infection and Immunity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2023

By
James McKinlay ,
Alexander Fletcher  and
Armine Sefton
Edited by
Ned Gilbert-Kawai ,
Debashish Dutta  and
Carl Waldmann
Ned Gilbert-Kawai
Affiliation:
The Royal Liverpool Hospital
Debashish Dutta
Affiliation:
Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow
Carl Waldmann
Affiliation:
Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
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Summary

Key Learning Points

  1. 1. Different antibiotics work through different mechanisms.

  2. 2. Resistance to antibiotics is of great concern.

  3. 3. Selecting the right antibiotics to target the identified organism is the primary goal.

  4. 4. The majority of available antibiotics work by inhibiting either cell wall formation or nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) synthesis of the organism.

  5. 5. Cross-reactivity in penicillin-allergic patients to carbapenems is around 1 per cent.

Keywords

selective toxicitymechanism of actionspectrumantibiotic resistance
Type
Chapter
Information
Intensive Care Medicine
The Essential Guide
 , pp. 273 - 277
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

References and Further Reading

Cunha, B, Torres, D, Hage, J, et al. Antibiotic pearls and pitfalls and antimicrobial drug summaries. In: Cunha, CB, Cunha, BA (eds). Antibiotic Essentials, 11th edn. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett; 2012. pp. 507–718.Google Scholar
Greenwood, D, Finch, R, Davey, P, Wilcox, M. General properties of antimicrobial agents. In: Greenwood, D, Finch, R, Davey, P, Wilcox, M (eds). Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 5th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008. pp. 13–67.Google Scholar
Kapoor, G, Saigal, S, Elongavan, A. Action and resistance mechanisms of antibiotics: a guide for clinicians. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol 2017;33:300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

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