Osmosis video - Antibiotics - Antimycobacterials: Nursing pharmacology

Mycobacterium is a genus of bacteria that includes many species that are pathogenic to humans. It's known to cause tuberculosis, leprosy, and some non-tuberculosis lung infections. Antimycobacterials are a class of antibiotics effective against mycobacterium species. The primary targets of antimycobacterial drugs are the enzymes that mycobacteria use to build their cell walls. Antimycobacterial drugs are typically administered in combination to target different enzymes and minimize bacterial resistance to these antibiotics.

The first-line antimycobacterials for tuberculosis include rifampin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol. Second-line antimycobacterials include bedaquiline, cycloserine, ethionamide, rifabutin, aminosalicylic acid, capreomycin, and amikacin. There is also dapsone used to treat leprosy. There may be cases that are multidrug resistant, and these are treated with drugs like bedaquiline, capreomycin, cycloserine, and amikacin.