Antibiotics-the word sends terror coursing through the veins of students and makes many healthcare professionals uncomfortable. The category of antibiotics contains many different classes of drugs that differ in spectrum of activity, adverse effect profiles, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and clinical utility. These classes can seem bewildering and beyond comprehension. We believe that taking a logical, stepwise approach to learning the pharmacotherapy of infectious diseases can help burn away the mental fog preventing optimal use and understanding of these drugs.

Learning the characteristics of antibiotics greatly simplifies learning infectious disease pharmacotherapy. Students and clinicians who attempt to learn the antibiotics of choice for different types of infections before knowing the characteristics of those drugs never truly understand the context of what they are attempting to learn, and those memorized facts usually don’t stay in memory for long. Once the characteristics of the antibiotics are known, making a logical choice to treat an infection is much easier. This approach takes some time up front, but it will be well worth the effort when one realizes that the pharmacotherapy of all infections is fundamentally similar and logical. It also pays off when you encounter a patient who didn’t read the guidelines for the infection they have and requires an antibiotic regimen outside the norm.

How to Use This Book

We wrote this book in an effort to condense the many facts that are taught about antibiotics in pharmacology and pharmacotherapy courses into one quick reference guide. It is meant to supplement material learned in pharmacology, not to supplant it. Use this book as a reference when you encounter a class of antibiotics that you know you have heard about; it will remind you of key points you may have forgotten.

This book contains six parts. Part 1 reviews basic microbiology and how to approach the pharmacotherapy of a patient with a presumed infection. The chapters in Parts 2-6 provide concise reviews of various classes of antibacterial, antimycobacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic drugs, respectively. Again, this book is intended to supplement your other pharmacology textbooks. These chapters give key points about each class of antibiotics-they are not thorough reviews. The appendices contain references that may help in daily use.

Format of the Drug Class Reviews

Each drug class chapter follows the same basic format. The agents belonging to each class are listed first. Drugs available intravenously are italicized; those available orally are underlined.

Mechanism of Action

This section concisely summarizes the mechanism of action of the antibiotic class.

Spectrum

This section summarizes key organisms against which each class has or lacks activity. The spectra listed are not exhaustive.

Adverse Effects

This section lists key adverse effects. This list is not exhaustive, but it gives the most common and/or concerning adverse effects of each class.

Dosing Issues

This section discusses common problems or potential errors in drug dosing for select drug classes when they are present.