KEY TAKEAWAYS •
Antimicrobial drugs can be against bacteria, fungi, protozoans, helminths, and viruses.
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Prokaryotic organisms are easier to act against because of differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
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Antibacterial agents can act on the cell wall, cell membrane, nucleic acid synthesis, protein synthesis, and cell metabolism.
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Antiprotozoal drugs are mainly those against malaria, although there are other protozoal infections that can be treated.
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Antifungal drugs are often topical, although there are oral drugs that affect the fungal cell wall or fungal metabolism.
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Antiviral drugs will include nucleoside analogs as well as drugs preventing viral release and specific drugs for retroviruses that contain RNA instead of DNA.
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There are ways to determine if an antimicrobial drug is inhibitory or bactericidal to a specific organism. This is called looking for drug sensitivity.
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