Broad-spectrum antibiotic Totally Explained

Everything about Broad-spectrum Antibiotic totally explained

The term broad-spectrum antibiotic refers to an antibiotic with activity against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. It is also means that it acts against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. This is in contrast to a narrow-spectrum antibiotic which is effective against only specific families of bacteria. A good example of a commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotic is levofloxacin.

Uses

Broad-spectrum antibiotics are properly used in the following medical situations:

Empirically prior to identifying the causative bacteria when there's a wide differential and potentially serious illness would result in delay of treatment. This occurs, for example, in meningitis, where the patient can become so ill that he/she could die within hours if broad-spectrum antibiotics are not initiated.

For drug resistant bacteria that don't respond to other, more narrow-spectrum antibiotics.

In super-infections where there are multiple types of bacteria causing illness, thus warranting either a broad-spectrum antibiotic or combination antibiotic therapy. There has been a common usage of broad-spectrum agents in treatment of community acquired infections without attempting to culture or otherwise identify the causative bacteria. Over the years, this practice has contributed to the emergence of more drug resistant strains of bacteria, necessitating the development of newer broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Ideally, the spectrum should be "narrowed down" by identifying the causative agent of an infection, and then replacing the broad-spectrum antibiotic with an appropriate narrower-spectrum antibiotic. This is believed to limit the development of antibiotic resistance, although evidence for this practice is unclear.

Examples

In medicine:

amoxycillin

levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin In veterinary medicine, Co-amoxiclav (for example Synulox, from Pfizer) (in small animals); penicillin & streptomycin (for example Streptacare from Animalcare Ltd) and oxytetracycline (in farm animals); penicillin and potentiated sulphonamides (for example Equitrim, Boehringer) (in horses).

Further Information

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