Question

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?

Answer 1

Broad-spectrum antibiotics can cause antibiotic resistance.

Step-by-step 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.