What is involved in antimicrobial chemotherapy?
Antimicrobial chemotherapy involves administering drugs to treat infections caused by certain microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. The term “chemotherapy”, although specially associated with cancer, actually refers to the use of chemicals in medical treatment. In the case of antimicrobial chemotherapy, medicines may stop or actively kill them. The development of this technology in medicine meant a significant breakthrough, which made it possible to treat the previously fatal drug infections. In all cases, the first step in treatment is to find out what kind of infection the patient has. Sometimes it requires the growth of organisms in culture to find out which of them are present. It is possible to diagnose other cases by reviewing symptoms and location; Although the career does not reduce the precise organism, it may be close enough to choose the right treatment.
Understanding the culprit is important for choosing the right course of antimicrobial chemotherapy. These drugs can have a wide or narrow mechanism of action and work with differentways. Some organisms are not susceptible to certain drugs and therefore do not respond to treatment if the doctor chooses the wrong medicine. For quick treatment, care providers can choose a wide spectral medicine to see if it works, and order a culture if the patient seems not to improve.
patients must follow specific dose directions, which usually include several days and sometimes weeks of antimicrobial chemotherapy to deal with infection. During this period, they may experience side effects and in some cases have serious reactions that require the transition to other medications. At the end of the course, care providers can again test to confirm that the infection has been cleaned if they think it is necessary. Sometimes more medicines are needed to fight infection, or the patient must switch because the microbes are resistant and the first line of treatment does not work.
Research in antimicrobial chemotherapy is a continuationThe subject. Doctors always need new drugs to treat patients, especially medicines that come with fewer side effects and risks. In addition, microbes always evolve in response to medicines. This requires pharmaceutical companies to climb to keep up with new editions of drugs that would deal with resistant infections. Part of the treatment of infections may include a report to the medical authorities if the patient seems to be infected with an unknown organism or has an extremely resistant infection.