A client is admitted to the hospital with elevated temperature, chills, cough, and fatigue. The health care provider orders a chest x-ray, which indicates pneumonia. The blood cultures also come back positive for a Gram-negative bacillus. The provider orders two antibiotics to be given to the client, one for Gram-negative organisms and one for Gram-positive organisms. Why does the provider not prescribe just one antibiotic for both types of bacteria?

Question

Biology

Kitty

5 April, 10:24

A client is admitted to the hospital with elevated temperature, chills, cough, and fatigue. The health care provider orders a chest x-ray, which indicates pneumonia. The blood cultures also come back positive for a Gram-negative bacillus. The provider orders two antibiotics to be given to the client, one for Gram-negative organisms and one for Gram-positive organisms. Why does the provider not prescribe just one antibiotic for both types of bacteria?

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Answers (1)

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Tori Aguirre · Answer 1

Broad-spectrum antibiotics can cause antibiotic resistance.

Explanation:

Antibiotics are the substances that inhibit the growth of or kill the bacteria and hence, these are used as medications for the treatment of a lot of bacterial diseases. These antibiotics can either be of broad-spectrum or the narrow spectrum. The broad-spectrum antibiotics are the ones that are effective against a variety of bacteria, both gram-positive and negative whereas the narrow-spectrum antibiotics are the ones that target only a specific type of bacteria. Since the bacteria can mutate very fast and hence, develop antibiotic resistance, the doctors usually avoid prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics and only use them when the causal bacteria is completely unknown. Hence, in the given case the provider prescribes separate medications for both types of bacteria.