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An antibiotic is a substance which affect the growth of microorganisms which can include prions, viruses, fungi, worms or any other intracellular or extracellular parasites. The predominant usage of the term is restricted to antibacterial antibiotic, a drug which harms bacteria. |
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In common usage, an antibiotic is a drug that kills certain kinds of bacteria, but which is generally harmless to the host and is used to treat infection. Strictly speaking, the term can also apply to substances that affect prions, viruses, fungi, worms or any other intracellular or extracellular parasite, but the antibacterial kind are the most common. |
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The first antibiotic to be discovered was penicillin. Its discoverer, Alexander Fleming, had been culturing bacteria on an agar plate with an accidental fungal contamination, and noticed that the culture medium around the mould was free of bacteria. He had previously worked on the antibacterial properties of lysozyme?, and so was predisposed to make the correct interpretation of what he saw: that the mould was secreting something that stopped bacterial growth. Though he was unable to produce the pure material (the beta-lactam ring in the penicillin molecule making it unstable under the purification methods he tried), he reported it in the scientific literature. Since the mould was of the genera Penicillium, he named this compound penicillin. With the increased need for treating wound infections in World War II, resources were poured into investigating and purifying this compound, and antibiotics came into widespread use. |
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The discovery of antibiotics, along with anesthesia? and the adoption of [hygenic practices]? by physicians (e.g. washing hands, using sterilized instruments) revolutionized medicine. They are basically magic bullets; drugs which target bugs without greatly harming the host. |
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The first antibiotic to be discovered was penicillin. Its discoverer, Alexander Fleming, had been culturing bacteria on an agar plate with an accidental fungal contamination, and noticed that the culture medium around the mold was free of bacteria. He had previously worked on the antibacterial properties of lysozyme?, and so was predisposed to make the correct interpretation of what he saw: that the mold was secreting something that stopped bacterial growth. Though he was unable to produce the pure material (the beta-lactam ring in the penicillin molecule making it unstable under the purification methods he tried), he reported it in the scientific literature. Since the mold was of the genus Penicillium, he named this compound penicillin. With the increased need for treating wound infections in World War II, resources were poured into investigating and purifying this compound, and antibiotics came into widespread use. The discovery of antibiotics, along with anesthesia? and the adoption of [hygenic practices]? by physicians (for example, washing hands and using sterilized instruments) revolutionized medicine. They are often called "magic bullets": drugs which target bugs without greatly harming the host. |
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