In this chapter, antiparasitic therapy is organized into five categories: (1) agents active against luminal protozoans, (2) agents active against the kinetoplastid protozoans, (3) agents active against malarial parasites, (4) antibacterial agents with antiprotozoan activity, and (5) anthelmintics. These divisions…
In 1963, idoxuridine became the first antiviral compound to be licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the topical treatment of herpes simplex virus (HSV) keratitis. This was followed shortly by licensure of amantadine in 1966 as…
Topical antimicrobial therapy dates to ancient times when a wide variety of substances such as grease, lint oil, wine, and metallic salts were applied to wounds. Since then, topical antibiotics have been developed. They are most frequently used to treat…
Fungal infections in children generally can be divided into superficial infections that affect persons with normal immune systems and invasive infections that occur primarily in children who are immunocompromised. Children can be immunocompromised due to genetic defects, pre-term birth, hematopoietic…
Antibacterial agents, their mechanism of action, spectrum of antibacterial activity, patterns of antibiotic resistance, and current clinical use are presented in this chapter. Fig. 292.1 summarizes the main sites of antibacterial agent activity. Chapter 289 provides the principles regarding the…
Acknowledgment The authors acknowledgment contributions of Michael D. Reed to this chapter in previous editions. As clinicians continuously strive to practice evidence-based medicine, the use of antibiotics can be frustratingly empiric. Ethical concerns, multiple confounding variables, and unclear endpoints hamper…
Microorganisms have survived for millions of years because of their ability to adapt to hostile environments. Since the 1940s, bacteria that cause human infections have been exposed to ever-increasing antimicrobial pressure as a result of appropriate and inappropriate use of…
The selection of optimal antibiotic therapy for presumed bacterial infection is based on the assessment of the balance of benefits and risks of specific therapy for each child. Prescribing the right antibiotic(s) early in the course of a serious infection…
Acute Phase Response Stimuli of many kinds, including infection, trauma, hemorrhage, or ischemia, activate the innate immune system through binding of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and/or danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) to pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) on the surface of neutrophils, monocytes,…
Viruses The availability of rapid and reliable viral diagnostic tests, particularly nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), facilitates decision making in the prevention, treatment, public health, and infection control measures related to viral infections. With specific antiviral therapy available for many…