Bactericidal drugs Act by killing bacteria. Bacteriostatic drugs Act to suppress or inhibit bacterial replication sufficiently until the immune system can eliminate the organisms Prophylactic drugs Drugs taken to prevent a disease rather than treat an established infection Synergism Certain drugs work better together in combination compared to being used individually. Antagonism Certain drugs may decrease the effectiveness of others, or prove toxic when taken in combination. Monotherapy Taking a single agent to treat an infection Combination therapy Taking more than one drug to treat an infection. This is a common strategy used to treat certain infectious disease agents that are notoriously drug resistant such as HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Narrow spectrum drugs Target a particular type of microbe.
Use of narrow spectrum agents is preferable for treatment of specific infections and to minimize the possibility of selecting for drug resistant organisms. Broad spectrum drugs Act against a wide range of microorganisms. G targets gram positives. Transpeptidation involves the formation of peptide crosslinks. By binding to transpeptidases cell wall synthesis is brought to a halt.