Question

A critically ill patient enters your emergency room, exhibiting signs and symptoms of severe septic shock. In this case, should you immediately begin treatment with a broad-spectrum drug or a narrow-spectrum drug? Explain your answer and discuss any possible consequences of using either drug in the patient.

Answer 1

Septic shock is very serious condition due to organ injury or damage in response to infection. Septic shock results into very low blood pressure and abnormal cellular metabolism. The patient with septic shock should immediately treated with broad spectrum antibiotics after recognition of the condition. The mortality rate of septic shock is very high that is 25 to 50%. Risk of dying increases by almost 10% for each hour of delay in receiving antibiotics and thus time factor does not allow to the culture, identification, and testing for antibiotic sensitivity of the specific microorganism responsible for the infection. Therefore a combination of broad spectrum antibiotics (combination antimicrobial therapy) which covers a wide range of potential causative organisms, is the better option.