Conflict With the Resistance
THE ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE
Types of Antimicrobials
OVERVIEW: What are the Types of Antimicrobials?
What Are Antibiotics?
Antibiotics are used to specifically treat infections caused by bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is the most prevalent threat due to fact that it is the most misused and prescribed medication. Even though antibiotics can be used to treat a wide range of bacterial infections, it is misunderstood that it can treat all infections when it is only effective towards bacteria-caused infections. Antibacterial products, like antibacterial soap and hand sanitizer, also add to the problem as there is no evidence of it working better than traditional methods of cleaning.
Some antibiotics can be effective against certain bacteria while others can attack a wide range of bacteria, including ones that are beneficial to humans. There are two main ways in which antibiotics target bacteria in which they either prevent bacteria reproduction, or kill it by stopping the mechanism responsible for building their cell walls for instance.
Antibiotics are categorized in families by their method of eliminating bacteria. Some include Beta-Lactam, which affects the cell walls of bacteria, Macrolides, which affects ribosomes, and Quinolones, which affect the cell's DNA.
What Are Antivirals?
Antivirals are used to target infections caused by viruses. These type of antimicrobial also inhibiting a virus’s ability to reproduce. There are different classes of antiviral drugs, each of which are used on a narrower spectrum compared to antibiotics for specific kinds of viral infections. Antiviral drugs are now able to treat a number of viruses, including influenza, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), herpes, and hepatitis B and C. Similar to bacteria, viruses are able mutate over time and develop resistance to antiviral drugs.
A viral infection occurs when the virus infects your body's cells, uses the cell to reproduce itself, and then leaves the cell to infect more cells in the body, which increases the amount of virus in the body. Antivirals work by reducing the ability of the virus to reproduce. In order to be effective, antiviral medications must target either viral entry or exit or interfere with the virus while its inside the cell. Antiviral medications must also be specific so as not to cause systemic toxicity. Furthermore, antiviral drugs should be potent and stable.
What Are Antifungals?
Antifungal medicines are used to treat fungal infections, which most commonly affect the skin, hair and nails. Some fungal infections commonly treated with antifungals include ringworm, athlete's foot, and fungal nail infection.
Antifungal drugs work by either eliminating the fungal cells like affecting a substance in the cell walls, causing the contents of the fungal cells to leak out and the cells to die, or preventing the fungal cells from growing and reproducing.
Antifungal medicines are available as topical antifungals which is a cream, gel, ointment; oral antifungals which can be a capsule, tablet or liquid medicine that is swallowed;
intravenous antifungals which is an injection into a vein in your arm, usually given in hospital; and intravaginal antifungal pessaries which are small, soft tablets that are inserted into the vagina.
What Are Antiparasitics?
Antiparasitic medications are used to treat infections caused by parasites. Different drugs have different ways to treat its specific parasitic infections. One common drug, albendazole, is used to treat infections caused by worms and does so by keeping the worm from absorbing sugar, so that the worm loses energy and dies. Another common antiparasitic drug, ivermectin, is used to treat river blindness, another infection caused by worms. It stimulates excessive release of neurotransmitters in the peripheral nervous system of parasites. It is thought to work by paralyzing the parasite or inactivating the parasite gut.
In spite of the massive popularity and production of antibiotics, antiparasitic medications have fallen far behind. Antiparasitic drug use and development are affected largely by the amount of parasitic diseases in poorer areas of the world. The biggest problem of limiting the impact of parasitic illnesses in endemic areas often falls on clinical officers or community health workers who, working in isolated and relatively under-resourced conditions, must examine, diagnose, and treat sick patients very quickly. Due to this, ideal treatments for parasitic infections requires drugs that are effective in a single dose, easily administered, safe enough to be used with limited medical supervision, cheap enough to be widely used, and at low risk of hastening drug resistance. However, not many agents that currently exist meets these ideal characteristics.
