Assignment

Chapter 10: Controlling Microbial Growth in the Body: Antimicrobial Drugs

The History of Antimicrobial Agents

1. Describe the antimicrobial contributions of Paul Ehrlich, Alexander Fleming, Gerhard Domagk, and Selman Waksman.

Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Action

2. Describe what selective toxicity is and how it works. Describe how selective toxicity affects how many and which drugs are available for treating disease caused by microbes. Know how selective toxicity relates to what types of organisms a drug can affect.

3. Identify and describe the six mechanisms by which antimicrobial drugs affect pathogens and explain how each mechanism acts on bacteria to successfully prevent microbial growth in humans.

Clinical Considerations in Prescribing Antimicrobial Drugs

4. Describe the characteristics of the ideal antimicrobial agent.

5. Describe the difference between narrow-spectrum and broad-spectrum drugs.

6. Describe the differences between the three major tests scientists use to determine antimicrobial effectiveness. Be sure you answer includes diffusion susceptibility test, zone of inhibition, MIC, and MBC test.

7. Describe the three different types of drug administration methods. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of these three methods.

8. Describe the three major categories of adverse side effects of antimicrobial drugs.

Resistance to Antimicrobial Drugs

9. Explain how a resistant strain of bacteria develops. Also, list the seven ways bacteria can resist the action of an antibacterial drug.

10. Identify and explain the four ways we can limit the development of resistant bacteria.