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An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria.It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of such infections.
Again, antibiotics only work against bacterial infections. “It does not work against viruses or fungus,” says Tran. “The confusion always comes up around wintertime because of the flu.
Antibiotics only work for bacteria and do not affect viruses. Antibiotics work by slowing down the multiplication of bacteria or killing the bacteria. The most common classes of antibiotics used in medicine include penicillin , cephalosporins , aminoglycosides , macrolides , quinolones and tetracyclines .
Production of antibiotics is a naturally occurring event, that thanks to advances in science can now be replicated and improved upon in laboratory settings. Due to the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, and the efforts of Florey and Chain in 1938, large-scale, pharmaceutical production of antibiotics has been made possible.
β-Lactam antibiotics are indicated for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible organisms. At first, β-lactam antibiotics were mainly active only against gram-positive bacteria, yet the recent development of broad-spectrum β-lactam antibiotics active against various gram-negative organisms has increased their usefulness.
Tetracyclines are generally used in the treatment of infections of the urinary tract, respiratory tract, and the intestines and are also used in the treatment of chlamydia, especially in patients allergic to β-lactams and macrolides; however, their use for these indications is less popular than it once was due to widespread development of resistance in the causative organisms.
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Escherichia coli bacteria on the right are sensitive to two beta-lactam antibiotics, and do not grow in the semi-circular regions surrounding antibiotics. E. coli bacteria on the left are resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, and grow next to one antibiotic (bottom) and are less inhibited by another antibiotic (top).