A Patient Has a Staphylococcal Infection of the Blood; a Septicemia

question 87

Multiple Choice

A patient has a staphylococcal infection of the blood; a septicemia - very serious and possibly deadly.As the doctor, you would like to prescribe a relatively non-toxic and inexpensive drug out of the cephalosporin family.However, if the patient harbors a strain of Staphylococcus that is resistant to a variety of antibiotics, you would prefer to use vancomycin-- which is highly effective against Staphylococcus.Which of the following explains why the cephalosporin drug is preferred for use over the vancomycin?

• A) You would rather give an inexpensive drug to save the family money.
• B)You really do not know that much about vancomycin, so you would rather go with a drug that you can find out more about.
• C)Vancomycin is very toxic, and the Staphylococcus strain could become resistant leaving no back-up drugs with which to treat the infection.
• D)Vancomycin is one of the most selectively toxic drugs there is, so you would prefer one that has a more broad-spectrum effect.

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Definitions:

Nociceptors

Sensory receptors that detect signals from damaged tissue and send pain signals to the central nervous system.

Pressure Receptors

Sensory nerve endings that respond to changes in pressure, especially those in the cardiovascular system that help regulate blood pressure.

Smell Receptors

Specialized nerve cells located in the nose that detect chemical molecules in the air and transmit signals to the brain, resulting in the perception of odors.

Chemoreceptors

Sensory receptors that respond to chemical stimuli, found in various locations in the body, crucial for detecting changes in chemical composition.