Symptoms of inflammation can disrupt the patient’s normal daily activities.
Anti-inflammatory medication is administered to patients to reduce the inflam-
matory response enabling the patient to return to normal activities.
Sometimes the microbial attack overwhelms the body’s defenses. In these
cases the patient requires medication to help the body destroy the micro-
bial. The most commonly prescribed medication to combat microbials is an
antibiotic.
There are two types of antibiotics: bacteriostatic and bacteriocidal. Bacterio-
static antibiotics stop bacteria from growing inside the body. Bacteriocidalanti-
biotics kill bacteria.
In this chapter, you learned about the most commonly prescribed antibiotics.
You learned how they work, how to administer them, their side effects, and when
they should not be administered to a patient.
In the next chapter you will learn about respiratory diseases and about the
medications that are prescribed to treat those diseases.
Quiz
- A new infection caused by a bacterium that is resistant to the present
antibiotics being given is called a
(a) communicable infection.
(b) superinfection.
(c) a hospital acquired infection.
(d) None of the above - A patient should always be asked if he or she is allergic to any medica-
tions, foods, or herbals or who has a family history of allergies to antibi-
otics. This is because
(a) patients who have a family member who is allergic to an antibiotic
might also have an allergy to some antibiotics.
(b) shell fish contain bacteria.
(c) patients can contract drug resistant bacteria from shellfish.
(d) All of the above
CHAPTER 13 Antimicrobials—Fighting Infection^251