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The first modern antibiotic, penicillin was developed for bacterial infections in the last years of the nineteenth century but was not introduced for public use until World War II. After the war, penicillin was adopted and improved upon until today there are hundreds of choices, some for very specific infections, to combat the often... more »
It's estimated that approximately 80% of Americans have some form of gum disease also referred as periodontal disease. Gum disease has a wide range of severity from slight inflammation of the gums to more advanced progression affecting the underlying bone tissue. If left untreated, gum disease infections can progress to more serious... more »
Bacteria are constantly evolving in an attempt to survive, and the use of antibiotics is a key player in their survival game. When bacteria do evolve, they often decrease the effects of antibiotics, making bacterial infections more difficult to treat. This can worsen the severity of many kinds of bacterial infections, such as strep... more »
Acne is a skin disorder that frequently flairs up during the teenage years because of the influx of hormones into the system. However, acne can and does affect people of all ages. The condition is caused by the combination of hormones and an obstructed hair follicle resulting in the multiplication of bacteria which in turn leads to... more »
Acne formation is directly related to the oil glands. Pores are tiny passages for oil. The hair follicles are connected to sebaceous glands that produce sebum, which is used to keep the skin surface oily. In healthy skin, the pores are open, so the sebum can come to the surface. In affected skin, the pores become clogged with dead... more »
One of the keys to health is filling your intestines with bacteria? Come again? That’s right....
Tooth pain is debilitating to many folks. An abscessed tooth is very painful. The...
Earaches and similar problems often lead to larger issues, including problems walking straight,...
Now hear this: ear infections should not be ignored. Distinguish the differences between...
Asthma cases range from mild to severe, depending on factors like age, physical health and environment. While children once represented the... more »
Antibiotics are powerful drugs, usually made from microorganisms and used to kill bacteria and fungal infections that make us ill. While they are... more »
Lyme disease is a multisystem inflammatory disease caused by organism Borrelia, which is spread by the bite of infected tick called Ixodes... more »
Lyme disease is an infection that can be spread by deer ticks and Western black-legged ticks. The only way to contract Lyme disease is to be... more »
The Master Cleanse is a hotly debated liquid diet that purports to cleanse the body of the buildup of chemicals, toxins, antibiotics and a variety... more »
In common usage, an antibiotic (from the – anti, "against", and βίος – bios, "life") is a substance or compound that kills, or inhibits the growth of, bacteria. Antibiotics belong to the broader group of antimicrobial compounds, used to treat infections caused by microorganisms, including fungi and protozoa.
The term "antibiotic" was coined by Selman Waksman in 1942 to describe any substance produced by a microorganism that is antagonistic to the growth of other microorganisms in high dilution."Wakeman1947"> This original definition excluded naturally occurring substances that kill bacteria but are not produced by microorganisms (such as gastric juice and hydrogen peroxide) and also excluded synthetic antibacterial compounds such as the sulfonamides. Many antibiotics are relatively small molecules with a molecular weight less than 2000 Da.
With advances in medicinal chemistry, most antibiotics are now semisynthetic—modified chemically from original compounds found in nature, as is the case with beta-lactams (which include the penicillins, produced by fungi in the genus Penicillium, the cephalosporins, and the carbapenems). Some antibiotics are still produced and isolated from living organisms, such as the aminoglycosides, and others have been created through purely synthetic means: the sulfonamides, the quinolones, and the oxazolidinones. In addition to this origin-based classification into natural, semisynthetic, and synthetic, antibiotics may be divided into two broad groups according to their effect on microorganisms: those that kill bacteria are bactericidal agents, while those that only impair bacterial growth are known as bacteriostatic agents.
History of antibiotics
Many cures for infectious diseases prior to the beginning of the twentieth century were based on medicinal folklore. Cures for infection in ancient Chinese medicine using plants with antibiotic-like properties began to be described over 2,500 years ago. Man read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic
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