Medical Questions » Antibiotics Questions » Question No. 56
| Question: | I keep hearing that there are more and more bugs becoming resistant to antibiotics. Just how many different antibiotics are there? |
| Answer: | There are over 70 distinct and separate antibiotics listed in the medication guide (MIMS) that doctors use to guide them through the maze of medications available in this country.
Many of these antibiotics fit into a particular class such as penicillins or sulphas, and so it is likely that if a bacteria is resistant to one drug in this class, it will also be resistant to all the othets.
Penicillins include drugs such as amoxycillin (also known as Amoxil), procaine penicillin (which is given by injection) and phenoxymethyl penicillin (also known as PVK).
The most common sulpha is sulfamethoxazole, which is used in urinary infections and marketed as Alprim. In combined with trimethoprim this medication is known as Bactrim or Septrim.
Combinations of antibiotics are becoming common to reduce the incidence of resistance, so amoxycillin is now often combined with clavulanic acid and marketed as Augmentin.
Another commonly used group of drugs is the cephalosporins, which include cephalexin (marketed as Keflex and Ibilex), and cefaclor (Ceclor and Vercef).
It is very much a matter of ' horses for courses' , as specific antibiotics work better against specific bacteria, in particular places (eg. the bladder or lungs), or in certain forms (eg. as injections or creams).
A doctor must judge which antibiotic is best in each situation. |
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