Antibiotic classes and mechanism

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Ali

These are the different classes of medications and their mechanism of action. I’ve sorted them by which ones are exclusively Gram + or Gram – and which ones do both.

Here’s a handy mnemonic for remembering the antibiotics that act on the ribosomes (I find they’re the most confusing to remember):

Buy AT 30
Aminoglycosides
Tetracyclines

CELL for 50
Clindamycin
Erythromycin
Linezolid

7 thoughts on “Antibiotic classes and mechanism”

Hobart girl on September 13, 2012 at 9:32 am said:

Love your work, Ali!
looks like you’ve left off Glycopeptides though. They only cover gram positives.
I try and think of the GP as in Gram Positive Glyco Peptide!

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Basmalahh on May 11, 2013 at 2:47 pm said:

What a great site..
V. Useful & your inbetween comments are cool..

Thank you so much..

Love it!!

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Marie on July 26, 2013 at 11:56 am said:

Hello,
I have a question about the acronyms PABA, DHFA and THFA, could you write what they stand for please ?

Congratulations for this awesome website :)
Marie

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- Ali on July 26, 2013 at 3:39 pm said:
  
  Hi Marie,
  
  They are all part of folic acid synthesis
  PABA: Para-Amino Benzoic Acid
  DHFA: Dihydrofolic Acid (vitamin B9)
  THFA: Tetrahydrofolic Acid
  
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  - marie on July 26, 2013 at 3:48 pm said:
    
    Thank you very much!
    
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atii on September 23, 2015 at 3:27 am said:

Missing aztreonam and ceftriaxone does not cover pseudomonas at all. Useful otherwise.

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- Tyler Rivard on September 10, 2016 at 8:52 pm said:
  
  Might have meant ceftazidime
  
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