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Antimicrobial use has been common practice for at least 2000 years. Ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks used specific molds and plant extracts to treat infection. [5]In the 19th century, microbiologists such as Louis Pasteur and Jules Francois Joubert observed antagonism between some bacteria and discussed the merits of controlling these interactions in medicine. [6]
The highest division between antibiotics is bactericidal and bacteriostatic. Bactericidals kill bacteria directly, whereas bacteriostatics prevent them from dividing. However, these classifications are based on laboratory behavior. The development of antibiotics has had a profound effect on the health of people for many years.
An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria.It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of such infections.
Antibiotic synergy is desirable in a clinic sense for several reasons. At the patient level, the boosted antimicrobial potency provided by synergy allows the body to more rapidly clear infections, resulting in shorter courses of antibiotic therapy. [3] Shorter courses of therapy in turn reduce the effects of dose-related toxicity, if applicable ...
The antimicrobial spectrum of an antibiotic can be determined by testing its antimicrobial activity against a wide range of microbes in vitro. Nonetheless, the range of microorganisms which an antibiotic can kill or inhibit in vivo may not always be the same as the antimicrobial spectrum based on data collected in vitro. [2] [5]
Empiric antimicrobial therapy is a fairly sophisticated process which includes considering data such as a person's age, immune status, comorbidities, likelihood for a certain microbial etiology and pre-test probability for antimicrobial resistance prior to therapy, risk of bad outcomes, and to name a few.
In clinical medicine, antibiotics are most frequently prescribed on the basis of a person's symptoms and medical guidelines.This method of antibiotic selection is called empiric therapy, [1] and it is based on knowledge about what bacteria cause an infection, and to what antibiotics bacteria may be sensitive or resistant. [1]
A change to directed therapy may be associated with a change in antimicrobials, a change in the duration of treatment, or the cessation of unnecessary antimicrobials. [2] Directed therapy is considered important because it ensures a person is completely treated for an infection, and because it can help lower the rate of antimicrobial resistance ...