Answer:
Resistance describes reduction in effectiveness of drug to perform its normal function. It is the ability of microbes; bacterial, fungi, virus to resist the toxic effects of drugs and grow in the presence of the same concentration of drug that will normally kill or limit its growth.
The following are the principles of chemotherapeutic resistance:
• Pharmaceutic factors which include drug formulation/compounding, dosage forms, packaging and storage.
• Pharmacokinetic factors which include drug absorption, dissolution, metabolism and excretion
• Pharmacodynamics factors/mutation example of which is an alteration in …show more content…
Also, a good number of people nowadays take drugs for the purpose for which they are not intended. For example, use of Glucophage in controlling weight gain. If drug misuse is completely eradicated, the problem of drug resistance will be taken care of effectively if not completely.
Question 4: Identify the potential targets of drug action at different stages of viral development
Answer:
Many anti-viral drugs are purine or pyrimidine analogs. They are mostly prodrugs that must be phosphorylated by viral or cellular enzymes to become active. The following are potential drug targets at different stages of viral development;
• Attachment of the virus to the cell surface e.g. enfuvirtide (HIV) Y-globulin
• Uptake into intracellular vessicles (endosomes)
• Un coating of virus e.g. amantadine
• Integration of the viral DNA into chromosomal DNA of the host cell
• Template production and RNA or DNA replication(Nucleic acid …show more content…
Question 2
Which of the classes of antifungal agents will you consider to be ideal? Why or why not?
Answer
I consider echinocardins to be the ideal antifungal agent and the most suitable chemotherapeutic agent against fungal infections because of its following properties;
i. Its target of action is plasma cell wall which the humans lack; hence its ability to kill the parasite and spare the host cell which is the principle of selective toxicity. It is a cyclic lipopeptide antibiotics that interfere with fungal cell synthesis by inhibition of beta(1,3) D-glucan synthase. Loss of cell wall glucan results in osmotic fragility which can expand the cell causing it to burst. ii.Its effectiveness against spectrums of fungal infections including candida species and non-albican isolates resistant against fluconazole including pneumocystis carinii. iii.Its low minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)which accounts for minimal side effects. iv. Most of its side effects are intravenous related,they are extremely well tolerated