Question

in what clinical situation is it most appropriate to use broad spectrum antimicrobial

Answer 1

There are multiple possible situations when it is more appropriate to use broad spectrum antimicrobial. The potential situations include :

a) When the patient is infected with some particular microbes which are tolerant and resistant to some specific drugs/antibiotics.

b) When the patient is suffering from infections caused by multiple infective microbes of different types, then a single narrow spectrum antibiotic will obviously fail to work properly. Such situations are referred to as superinfections, and require broad spectrum antimicrobials for most of the time.

c) When we don't have exact knowledge or information about the causitive microbe, and immediate preliminary treatment is required to prevent further transmission and spread of infection, then the patient is given broad spectrum antimicrobials until the exact identification of causitive microbe is done.

d) When the patient is taking immunosuppressant drugs, then his immune system is somewhat dysfunctional. So his body will be more prone to infections by microbes. So he should take broad spectrum antimicrobials to prevent any sort of infections that might be caused due to wide range of microbes present in the surroundings.

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