Author Question: There is often cross-sensitivity and cross-resistance between penicillins and cephalosporins ... (Read 86 times)

danielfitts88 · **on:** Jul 24, 2018

There is often cross-sensitivity and cross-resistance between penicillins and cephalosporins because:

1. Renal excretion is similar in both classes of drugs.
2. When these drug classes are metabolized in the liver they both produce resistant enzymes.
3. Both drug classes contain a beta-lactam ring that is vulnerable to beta-lactamase-producing organisms.
4. There is not an issue with cross-resistance between the penicillins and cephalosporins.

Question 2

Infants and young children are at higher risk of developing antibiotic-resistant infections due to:

1. Developmental differences in pharmacokinetics of the antibiotics in children
2. The fact that children this age are more likely to be in daycare and exposed to pathogens from other children
3. Parents of young children insisting on preventive antibiotics so they don't miss work when their child is sick
4. Immunosuppression from the multiple vaccines they receive in the first 2 years of life