Antimicrobial Agents

Antimicrobial Agents
Bacterial infections are caused by bacteria and viral infections are caused by viruses and though the symptoms of these infections may seem similar, the causes are different—which means that treating them will also require unique methods. The categories of antimicrobial agents include antibacterial drugs, antifungal drugs, antiviral agents and antiparasitic drugs. A common antibacterial drug is Zithromax which will stop the pathogenesis of the bacteria. A common antiviral drug is Tamiflu, which will stop the pathogenesis of the virus. These two types are most commonly used by patients who are looking to address an infection.
But what makes viral and bacterial infections different aside from the agents causing the infection? As Steckleberg (2017) notes, bacteria are single-celled microorganisms that live in the body—some are good but others are bad. Viruses are even smaller than bacteria: they are like hostile takeover agents because they actually invade cells and cause the cell to reproduce more of the virus by using the mechanics of the cell. It is like a computer virus, taking over the computer to do things for the virus rather than for the user of the computer—which is why it is called a computer virus; it acts just like a virus attacking cells in the body. Some common forms of bacteria infection are strep throat, TB, and UTI. Some common forms of viral infection are chickenpox, flu, and AIDS. However, some illnesses can be caused by both bacteria and virus, such as pneumonia—so a care provider has to be able to determine the source of the infection in order to treat it properly.
Proper detection of the type of infection is crucial because antibacterial drugs will not be effective in treating a viral infection and vice versa. Antiobotics can be misapplied and cause more damage to the person’s health in the long term than if the person had received proper care and obtained the right treatment for the infection that the individual was suffering from.
The proper microbial agent to treat an infection will be based on the type of infection that the individual has. Blood test, urine test, or physical exam such as listening to breathing in the lungs, and examining the throat to see what has formed in the back near the tonsils can all help to determine what is going on in the body and make an informed, educated decision about the type of infection. Obtaining the patient’s history is also important in making this decision.
As Suarez, Bunsow, Falsey, Walsh, Mejias and Ramilo (2015) point out, identifying the precise cause of the infection is critical especially in a hospital setting because patients need to receive optimal quality care and if the infection is not treated properly it can quickly lead to compounding of problems for the patient. Since the patient is already in the hospital for something else, acquiring an infection while there can only make matters worse. The nurse must be aware of what has caused the infection and what the likely onset is so as to be able to treat it—so if it comes from a catheter and is a catheter-related infection, the nurse will know that it is likely a bacterial infection and there are certain steps to treat this kind. If, however, the infection may be caused by a virus—say a patient is visited by someone who just got over the flu—the nurse will need to know this information and that is why getting family histories is also crucial to making an informed decision: without this information the nurse would not know that the infection is likely caused by a virus, unless a test was run, which can take time to do and lead to more anxiety for the patient.
It is also important that a nurse know what kind of agent has caused the infection because the patient may desire to treat it using alternative medicines, such as a homeopathic cure, and that may or may not be more or less effective, depending on what it is a bacteria or a virus that is causing the infection. Pannek, Kurmann, Imbach, Amsler and Pannek-Rademacher (2018) have shown that homeopathic in vitro drugs have antibacterial potential to treat certain infections—but these would not be effective on viral infections, so even if a patient is interested in using homeopathic treatment, there still needs to be an understanding of the nature of the infection before a nurse can sign off on this type of approach.
Plus, there has to be a sense of what treatments are likely to work and what won’t base on the patient’s own medical background and whether or not the patient has any allergies to the types of drugs that are available. Some antibacterials and anti-viral medications can produce reactions in the patient that are worse than the infection itself, so that is another issue that has to be considered before a nurse simply starts to prescribe a drug without knowing the source of the infection.
Because there are so many factors to consider, nurses have to be very careful and considerate in how they approach infections in patients. Antimicrobial agents do work—but only when they are applied in a responsible and appropriate manner. If a nurse tries to kill a virus with an antibiotic, there will be no success, and the patient’s condition could worsen—drastically if the patient also happens to be allergic to the antibiotic. The same goes for trying to kill a bacteria with an antiviral drug, and the same with the allergy factor, too, as there are many antiviral drugs that patients can be allergic to that can worsen a condition.
References
Pannek, J., Kurmann, C., Imbach, E., Amsler, F., & Pannek-Rademacher, S. (2018). In
Vitro Effects of Homeopathic Drugs on Cultured Escherichia coli. Homeopathy, 107(02), 150-154.
Steckelberg, J. (2017). Bacterial vs. viral infection. Retrieved from
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/infectious-diseases/expert-answers/infectious-disease/faq-20058098
Suarez, N. M., Bunsow, E., Falsey, A. R., Walsh, E. E., Mejias, A., & Ramilo, O. (2015).
Superiority of transcriptional profiling over procalcitonin for distinguishing bacterial from viral lower respiratory tract infections in hospitalized adults. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 212(2), 213-222.