Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T00:06:03.933Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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

Ned Gilbert-Kawai
Affiliation:
The Royal Liverpool Hospital
Debashish Dutta
Affiliation:
Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow
Carl Waldmann
Affiliation:
Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
Get access

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.

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

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. 507718.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. 1367.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

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×