Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about intra-abdominal infections. And if you want to follow along with written notes on

this topic, you can follow along at zero-definals.com slash intra-abdominal infections or in the infectious diseases section of the zero to finals medicine

book. So let's get straight into it. There's a long list of possible intra-abdominal infections.

And these are things like acute diverticulitis, which is infection in one of the out-pouchings of the bowel

called a diverticular. Colocystitis, which is infection in one of the out-pouchings of the bowel called a diverticular.

Colocystitis, which is inflammation around the gallbladder,

where there's secondary infection there.

Ascending colangitis, where there's infection tracking up through the bioduct and gallbladder.

Appendicitis, which can be infection in the appendix,

spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, which is infection in the peritoneal cavity, or the abdominal cavity,

and then you can get intra-abdominal abscesses, so a pocket of infection somewhere in the abdomen.

What are the common causes of intra-abdominal infections? They commonly caused by anaerobes, which are bacteria that don't require oxygen,

and some examples of anaerobes are bacteriides and clostridium. Other causes are E. coli, klebsiella, enterococcus and streptococcus.

When it comes to treating intra-abdominal infections, a broad spectrum of antibiotic cover is required

unless you have specific culture results that tell you which antibiotics the bacteria is sensitive to.

You need to cover gram positive, gram negative and anaerobic bacteria

as any of these can be the cause of the intra-abdominal infection.

Always follow the local guidelines as these are changed frequently based on the local resistance

and the infection control

issues in the local area. Let's go through some of the antibiotics that are commonly used for

intra-abdominal infections and which bugs they cover. Coamoxiclav is a combination antibiotics that's

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