Possible degradation in the effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment of human diseases

[Anne Thomas]

If I remember rightly... I think metronidazole "attacks" flagellae.

Anne


Graham Shepherd wrote:
> 
> Joan Marie Shields wrote in message <7miqnk$jfm at news.service.uci.edu>...
> <snip>
> 
> >Actually, there are antibiotics, as well as antibiotics in conjunction
> >with sulfa drugs, used to treat a number of parasitic protozon infections.
> >For instance, the recommended treatment for infection with Cyclospora is
> >a combination of two antibiotics, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (also known
> >as Bactrim, Septra, or Cotrim).  Unfortunately, if you are allergic to
> >sulfa drugs you're out of luck.  However, infection does tend to be self-
> >limiting.
> >
> >Of course, overuse of these antibiotics will probably lead to the same
> >problem that we have with bacterial infections - eventual resistance.
> >
> >
> >
> >joan
> >--
> >Joan Shields       jshields at uci.edu       http://www.ags.uci.edu/~jshields
> >University of California - Irvine         School of Social Ecology
> >Department of Environmental Analysis and Design
> >I do not purchase services or products from unsolicited e-mail
> advertisements.
> 
> I seem to remember that metronidazole can be used for amoebic dysentery,
> too.
> Why these drugs work is a mystery to me; the sulfa combination is supposed
> to block folate metabolism in bacteria. Presumably we have an alternative
> pathway;
> I guess some protozoans don't have it and that makes them susceptible.
> If so, they would need to evolve the alternate pathway in order to become
> resistant.
> That sounds a lot more difficult than evolving a single enzyme like
> penicillinase.
>  Anyone care to speculate on the probability?
> 
> Also - where we came in - is there any evidence for clinical use of an
> antibiotic against toxoplasma?
> 
> GS