Term | Definition |
Antibiotic | a molecule(synthetic or natural product) capable of SELECTIVELY inhibiting the GROWTH or SURVIVAL of one or more species of microorganisms at LOW concentrations. |
MIC of an Antibiotic | Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of the antibiotic which COMPLETELY PREVENTS the growth or survival of a microorganism in a standard assay. MIC VALUE measures POTENCY! |
the Clinical Dose of an Antibiotic | a dose of an antibiotic usually expected to achieve a plasma conc. of ~4-8X the MIC value of the antibiotic. must be associated with MINIMUM or NO toxicity to the patient. |
Bacteriostatic Antibiotic | an antibiotic which exhibits a bacteriostatic effect at the clinical dose. |
Bactericidal Antibiotic | an antibiotic which exhibits a bactericidal effect at the clinical dose. |
The Bacteriostatic Effect | when administered at the CLINICAL DOSE, it inhibits CELL DIVISION(growth) of the microorganism, allowing it to SURVIVE but STOP MULTIPLYING. |
The Bacteriocidal Effect | when administered at the CLINICAL DOSE, it inhibits SURVIVAL of the microorganism(kills it). |
Narrow-Spectrum Antibiotic | antibiotic effective only against a LIMITED number of bacterial species/strains. (use of these contributes significantly to minimizing the emergence of microbial resistance to antibiotic therapy). |
Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic | antibiotic effective against a large number of bacterial species/strains, which would usually include both Gram+ and Gram- bacterial. Should ONLY be used when ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY b/c they contribute more to emergence of microbial resistance. |