Narrow-spectrum antibiotic

A narrow-spectrum antibiotic is an antibiotic that is only able to kill or inhibit limited species of bacteria.[1] Examples of narrow-spectrum antibiotics include vancomycin, fidaxomicin and sarecycline

Advantages
  • Narrow-spectrum antibiotic allow to kill or inhibit only those bacteria species that are unwanted (i.e. causing disease). As such, it leaves most of the beneficial bacteria unaffected, hence minimizing the collateral damage on the microbiota.[2][3]
  • Low propensity for bacterial resistance development.[4]

Disadvantages

Often, the exact species of bacteria causing the illness is unknown, in which case narrow-spectrum antibiotics can't be used, and broad-spectrum antibiotics are used instead. To know the exact species of bacteria causing the illness, clinical specimens need to be taken for antimicrobial susceptibility testing in a clinical microbiology laboratory.

See also

References
  1. Hopkins SJ (1997). Drugs and Pharmacology for Nurses (12th ed.). Churchill Livingstone. ISBN 978-0-443-05249-1.
  2. Blaser M (August 2011). "Antibiotic overuse: Stop the killing of beneficial bacteria". Nature. 476 (7361): 393–4. doi:10.1038/476393a. PMID 21866137. S2CID 205066874.
  3. Keener AB (9 May 2016). "Narrow-Spectrum Antibiotic Could Spare the Microbiome". The Scientist Magazine®. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  4. Melander RJ, Zurawski DV, Melander C (2018). "Narrow-Spectrum Antibacterial Agents". MedChemComm. 9: 12–21. doi:10.1039/c7md00528h. PMC 5839511. PMID 29527285.

Further reading
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