The Categories Of Antimicrobial Agents: Medication

Medication
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Institutional Affiliation
Q.1 The categories of antimicrobial agents
Antimicrobial agents are drugs that function by stopping the growth of microorganisms and eradicating them. There are five categories of antimicrobial medication. One is based on the type of action. Antibacterial agents known as bactericidal obliterate bacteria by focusing on their cell wall and membrane. Such agents include Penicillin, Carbapenems, and Gentamicin, among others while bacteriostatic antibacterial such as Sulphonamides and Erythromycin slows and prevents the growth of bacteria by inhibiting the synthesis of proteins and metabolic pathways (Ullah & Ali, 2017, pp. 2-3). Two is the source of the agents. The source of antimicrobial agents can be natural from fungi sources; it is also obtainable from semi-synthetic properties by chemically altering natural products or is synthetic.
The third category is based on their range of activity, which can either be a broad or narrow spectrum. Narrow spectrum antibacterial such as lactamase and cloxacillin focuses on a specific group of bacteria while the broad spectrum antibacterial such as Ampicillin and Quinolones deals with different types of bacteria (Ullah & Ali, 2017, pp. 3-4). The fourth category is based on their different chemical structure; group A- β‐Lactams or group B- Aminoglycoside. The fifth category is based on how the agents work. Some agents inhibit the combination of the cell wall of the bacteria; others inhibit the proper functioning of the membrane, others prohibit the amalgamation of protein inhibitors while the last group prevents the synthesis of nucleic acid (Bobbarala, 2012).
Q.2 Differences between viral and bacterial infections
According to Mayo Clinic, a bacterium is a single-celled microorganism. It is considered to be the most successful form of life on earth as it can survive in different environments such as extreme cold or hot surroundings. In a human body, most bacteria live in people’s intestines and are not harmful. Mayo Clinic, on the other hand, considers viruses as extra-small microorganisms that survive by clinging onto a host such as a human body where they...