Control of Bacteria: Overview

II. USING ANTIBIOTICS AND CHEMICAL AGENTS TO CONTROL BACTERIA

A. AN OVERVIEW

The overall purpose of this Learning Object is to learn terms used in understanding how antimicrobial agents are used to control bacteria.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR THIS SECTION

USING ANTIBIOTICS AND CHEMICAL AGENTS TO CONTROL BACTERIA

A. AN OVERVIEW

The basis of chemotherapeutic control of bacteria is selective toxicity (def). Selective toxicity means that the chemical being used should inhibit or kill the intended pathogen without seriously harming the host. A broad spectrum agent (def) is one generally effective against a variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria; a narrow spectrum agent (def) generally works against just gram-positives, gram-negatives, or only a few bacteria. Such agents may be cidal or static in their action. A cidal (def) agent kills the organism while a static (def) agent inhibits the organism's growth long enough for body defenses to remove it. There are two categories of antimicrobial chemotherapeutic agents: antibiotics and synthetic drugs. Antibiotics (def) are metabolic products of one microorganism that inhibit or kill other microorganisms. Synthetic drugs (def) are antimicrobial drugs synthesized by chemical procedures in the laboratory. Many of today's antibiotics are now actually semisynthetic and some are even made synthetically.

We will now look at the two sides of the story with regards to controlling bacteria by means of chemicals:

1. Ways in Which Control Agents May Affect Bacterial Structures or Functions

2. Ways in Which Bacteria May Resist Our Control Agents

QUIZ YOURSELF ON THIS SECTION

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