About Narrow-Spectrum Antibiotics:
- Antibiotics are classified as “narrow-spectrum” or “broad-spectrum” depending on the range of bacterial types they affect.
- Narrow-spectrum antibiotics are active against a selected group of bacterial types.
- They can act on either gram +ve or gram –ve but not both.
- They are used for the specific infection when the causative organism is known.
- They will not kill as many of the normal microorganisms in the body as the broad-spectrum antibiotics.
- Because they target very specific bacteria, they don't cause an increase in bacterial resistance and avoid the spread of drug-resistant infections.
- Examples include Azithromycin, Clarithromycin, Erythromycin, etc.
Gram-Positive vs. Gram-Negative Bacteria:
- Gram-negative bacteria are surrounded by a thin peptidoglycan cell wall, which itself is surrounded by an outer membrane containing lipopolysaccharide.
- Gram-positive bacteria lack an outer membrane but are surrounded by layers of peptidoglycan many times thicker than is found in the Gram-negative.
- Gram staining is a technique that uses violet dye to distinguish between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
- If the bacteria are gram-positive, the thick peptidoglycan layer in their cell walls will retain the dye and they will stain violet.
- If the bacteria are gram-negative, the dye will leak out of the thin peptidoglycan layer, and the bacteria will stain red.
- Gram-positive infections include Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infections, strep infections, and toxic shock syndrome.
- Gram-negative infections include salmonella infections, pneumonia,urinary tract infections, bacterial meningitis, and gonorrhea.
- Knowing whether bacteria is gram-positive or gram-negative can help your health care provider identify the type of infection you have and which antibiotics will be most effective in treating it.
What is Fusobacterium nucleatum?
- It is a common oral opportunistic bacterium which exists in the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract of humans.
- It causes different infectious diseases in the oropharynx and other parts of the oral cavity.
