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Other forms of antibiotic-associated harm include anaphylaxis, drug toxicity most notably kidney and liver damage, and super-infections with resistant organisms. Antibiotics are also known to affect mitochondrial function, [125] and this may contribute to the bioenergetic failure of immune cells seen in sepsis. [126]
Polymyxin antibiotics are relatively neurotoxic and nephrotoxic, so are usually used only as a last resort if modern antibiotics are ineffective or are contraindicated. Typical uses are for infections caused by strains of multiple drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa or carbapenemase -producing Enterobacteriaceae .
Subclass IIIa comprises those peptides that kill bacterial cells by cell wall degradation, thus causing cell lysis. The best studied bacteriolysin is lysostaphin , a 27 kDa peptide that hydrolyzes the cell walls of several Staphylococcus species, principally S. aureus . [ 18 ]
β-Lactam antibiotics are indicated for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible organisms. At first, β-lactam antibiotics were mainly active only against gram-positive bacteria, yet the recent development of broad-spectrum β-lactam antibiotics active against various gram-negative organisms has increased their usefulness.
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]
Antimicrobial peptides have been demonstrated to kill Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria, [1] enveloped viruses, fungi and even transformed or cancerous cells. [2] Unlike the majority of conventional antibiotics it appears that antimicrobial peptides frequently destabilize biological membranes , can form transmembrane channels , and may ...
Bactericidal antibiotics kill bacteria; bacteriostatic antibiotics slow their growth or reproduction. Bactericidal antibiotics that inhibit cell wall synthesis: the beta-lactam antibiotics ( penicillin derivatives ( penams ), cephalosporins ( cephems ), monobactams , and carbapenems ) and vancomycin .
Bacitracin is a polypeptide antibiotic derived from a bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, and acts against bacteria through the inhibition of cell wall synthesis. [6] It does this by inhibiting the removal of phosphate from lipid compounds, thus deactivating its function to transport peptidoglycan; the main component of bacterial cell membranes, to the microbial cell wall.