2 Antibiotics to Fight Urinary Tract Infection!

2 Antibiotics to Combat Urinary Tract Infection. Also, As with any infection, today it is possible to use different antibiotics for the urine infection . This depends on how effective an antibiotic is against each of the possible microorganisms that cause the disease. To know the sensitivity of a microorganism to an antibiotic, it is necessary to collect samples from the infected area, culture them and observe how they react. It is an expensive process, but above all a long one.

But urinary tract infections are very common and very irritating. Therefore, in order to streamline the process of choosing a treatment, the relationship between the circumstances in which the infection develops and the causative microorganisms and their sensitivity to the antibiotic has been studied. Throughout this post, we will explain the different antibiotics that are used in different urinary infections.

Types of Urinary Infections:

It is possible to classify urinary infections according to several parameters. In this case, we will focus on just a few of them. Generally speaking, we can divide urine infections into:

  • Cystitis: bladder infection
  • Pyelonephritis: kidney infection.
  • Complicated urinary tract infection: cystitis or pyelonephritis that develops with an underlying pathology.

Some of the circumstances that qualify a urine infection as “complicated” are pregnancy or poorly controlled diabetes. It also influences the existence of kidney damage prior to infection or any device placed in the urinary tract (eg, a catheter). Functional or anatomical abnormalities of the urinary tract are also included.

Germs that Cause Urinary Tract Infection:

Urinary tract infections are usually caused by gram-negative bacteria. A bacterium is gram negative when Gram staining does not work (it influences certain characteristics of the bacterial wall). Gram-negative bacteria are characterized by being very prone to becoming resistant to antibiotics (we will clarify what this means later).

The bacteria most commonly found in all types of urinary tract infections described above is Escherichia coli. It is an anaerobic (rod-shaped) bacillus (does not use oxygen). They are often accompanied by Proteus (especially in catheter infections) and Klebsiella.

  • Klebsiella, unlike E. coli, is facultative anaerobic (doesn’t need oxygen, but can use it) and is found predominantly in complicated infections.
  • Staphylococcus (S. aureus, S. epidermidis) are also found, although relatively infrequently. With cocci (spherical) and when breeding, colonies take the form of a
  • bunch of grapes. On many occasions (especially in complicated infections) several different microorganisms are involved.

Some Aspects about the Effect of Antibiotics:

A concept of special importance is that of resistance. A microorganism is resistant to an antibiotic when it develops variations in its genes that confer immunity to that drug.

Germs pass on this genetic variation as they reproduce. Because of this, an individual can become infected with a resistant germ, or it can happen that resistance develops within the individual. Regardless of the above, there are variations in the effectiveness of an antibiotic against different microorganisms of the same species.

As for the mechanism of action of an antibiotic, broadly speaking, there are two types:

  • Bacteriostats: inhibit the growth of the colony (set of microorganisms).
  • Bactericides: kill microorganisms.

Different Antibiotics For Urinary Infections:

There are many types of treatment, but we are going to focus on four antibiotics.

The first will be trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. It is bactericidal, involved in the synthesis of folic acid, so that they can no longer synthesize nucleic acids or proteins. It is especially effective against staphylococci. Fosfomycin is also used. It is bacteriostatic, inhibits cell wall synthesis. It is especially effective against Escherichia coli and Proteus.

It also inhibits cell wall synthesis of nitrofurantoin. However, it is bacteriostatic or bactericidal depending on the dose and the microorganism. Prevents carbohydrate metabolism and bacterial wall synthesis. It is especially effective against E. coli and staphylococci.

Useful links: 

Ceftriaxone, which is bactericidal, can also be used and also inhibits cell wall synthesis. It is especially effective against pseudomonas.

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