Antimicrobial Chapter 20: Medications Questions & Answers

Antimicrobial Chapter 20: Medications Questions & Answers Paul Ehrlich - ANS-A German physician and bacteriologist. Observed that certain dyes stain bacterial cells but not animal cells, leading him to search for a "magic bullet" that would kill a microbial pathogen without harming the human host. They tested arsenic that could help treat syphilis caused by Treponema pallidum, developed salvarsan. Ehrlich's discovery proved that some chemicals could selectively kill microbes. This was the first documented example of a chemical used successfully as an antimicrobial medication Gerhard Domagk - ANS-almost 25 years after the development of salvarsan by Paul Ehrlich Gerhard Domagk discovered that a red dye called Prontosil could be used to treat streptococcal infections in animals. Prontosil had no effect on streptococci growing in test tubes. It was discovered later that enzymes in the animal's blood split the Prontosil molecule, producing a smaller molecule called sulfanilamide that acted against the infecting streptococci. The discovery of sulfanilamide, the first sulfa drug, was based on luck as well as scientific effort. Chemotherapeutic agents - ANS-chemicals used to treat disease Antimicrobial drugs - ANS-chemotherapeutic agents used to treat microbial infections. Numerous different antimicrobial drugs are now available, each with characteristics that make it more or less suitable for a given clinical situation Alexander Flemming - ANS-He was working with cultures of Staph aureus when he noticed that colonies growing near a contaminating mold looked as if they were dissolving. He recognized that the mold might be secreting a substance that killed bacteria and studied it more carefully. The mold was a species of Penicillium, he found it was indeed producing a bacteria-killing substance; he called it penicillin. Fleming wasn't able to purify penicillin but he showed that it was effective in killing many different bacterial species and did not cause adverse effects when injected into rabbits and mice. He eventually abandoned his study of penicillin out of discouragement from not being able to purify it.