A patient who is not a healthcare worker is diagnosed with C. difficile pseudomembranous colitis. What most likely led to this infection? (NCLEX/HESI/TEAS)
a. The patient was recently treated with a bacteriostatic drug.
b. The patient was recently treated with a broad-spectrum drug.
c. The patient was treated with a bactericidal drug.
d. The patient recently became immune compromised and therefore had an increased risk for infection.
e. The patient was recently exposed to someone with an active C. difficile infection.

Match the antimicrobial drug to its feature. Some features may be used more than once, and some may not be used at all.

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Choose the true statement(s) about therapeutic index (TI). Select all that apply. (NCLEX/HESI/TEAS)

a. A drug with a high therapeutic index would be effective above the dose at which it is potentially toxic.

b. A narrow TI is preferable.

c. A drug for which the maximum safe dose is close to the minimum effective dose would have a high TI.

d. It is one measure of a drug’s general safety.

e. A drug that is not selectively toxic would most likely have a high TI.

Which of the following antimicrobial properties would be the most crucial to consider in developing a new antimicrobial? (NCLEX/HESI/TEAS)

a. Selective toxicity

b. Ease of administration

c. Lack of drug interactions

d. Long half-life

e. The drug’s capacity to be bactericidal

A broad-spectrum drug is best described as

a. bactericidal against a wide range of species.

b. bacteriostatic against a wide range of species.

c. effective against a wide range of species.

d. empiric therapy.

e. selectively toxic.

Assume a bacterium makes beta-lactamase. Could you still use a glycopeptide drug to treat an infection caused by this bacterium? Explain your reasoning.

If a gene encoding a bacterial transpeptidase enzyme undergoes mutation, which of the following antimicrobials may no longer be effective against the mutated bacterium?

a. Macrolides

b. Polypeptide drugs

c. Tetracyclines

d. Penicillins

e. Quinolones

Which of the following disinfectants acts against cell membranes?

a. phenol

b. peracetic acid

c. silver nitrate

d. glutaraldehyde

Which antimicrobial chemical has been used to sterilize spacecraft?

a. phenol

b. alcohol

c. heavy metal

d. ethylene oxide