Infectious disease control has been around for over 2,500 years, dating back to ancient times.The Chinese were the first to experiment with cures for infectious diseases using plants, and most of these were based on folklore.Other ancient cultures, such as the Egyptians and the Greeks, treated diseases with molds as well as plants.In 1877, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch first described a drug that could effectively inhibit the growth of bacteria. These drugs were renamed antibiotics in 1942 by Selman Wakeman, an American microbiologist.
An antibiotic serves to inhibit or kill the growth of bacteria.These drugs belong to the antimicrobial family of drugs, which also includes anti-parasitic anti-viral and anti-fungal drugs.The term originally was used to a substance removed from living organisms, however today it applies to synthetic antimicrobials.Early on, antibiotics were known as magic bullets because they killed infection without doing any damage to the person, unlike poison which previously had been used.
Antibiotics contain a wide variation of effectiveness, depending on the type of bacteria. Antibiotic effectiveness is dependant upon the placement of the infection as well as the antibiotic's ability to reach that site.
Antibiotics can be administered orally or topically, as with eye drops and ointments.
A bacterium is a single-celled living organism that is completely self-contained and self-reproducing.Ninety-nine percent of bacteria are harmless to humans, and they break down organic matter and destroy harmful parasites.The other one percent is harmful to humans, feeding on the tissues and excreting toxins and acids afterwards. These excretions cause bacterial infections, which can be effectively killed off with antibiotic medications.
Medical intervention and treatment is necessary in order to kill off bacteria because a bacterium is a living organism, and must be destroyed by a chemical agent.Antibiotics are chemical compounds that kill off bacteria by destroying their cell walls or neutralizing their ability to reproduce.Doctors prescribe heavy doses of antibiotic medications in order to create an environment in which bacteria can not survive.
History of Antibiotics
Penicillin is the first antibiotic drug that was documented as having been discovered.It was the French doctor, Ernest Duchesne, who noted in 1896 that certain penicillin molds killed bacteria.A few years later, Alexander Fleming continued Duchesne’s work and discovered that molds, called Penicillium, stopped bacterial growth.
During the 1930’s, German scientists continued investigating antibiotics by studying the properties of certain dyes. One particular dye, sulfanomide, was found to successfully treat human infections. Sulfanomide was the first documented success oral antibiotic success. Around the same time, Rene Dubos isolated the antibiotic tyrothricin, used to then topically treat skin infections developed from soil bacteria.
When World War II came to an end, a team of scientists, led by Howard Walter Florey, developed useful mass quantities of penicillin which successfully treated the wounds of the soldiers. New antibiotics have rapidly been discovered as well as further advancements into cures and containment of many diseases, such as the development of cancer chemotherapy.
Benefits of Antibiotics
Discovering antibiotics has revolutionized the practice of medicine today. It has been hailed as the greatest advancement in health since the installation of modern sanitation. Years ago, it was commonplace that a simple cut could develop a bacterial infection that could result in death. Thanks to the development of antibiotics, this will never happen again.
Antibiotic medications, such as Cipro, Levaquin, Adoxa Generic, Doryx Generic, Monodox Generic, Periostat Generic and Vibramycin Generic fight bacterial strains in your body by stopping the production of essential proteins needed by the bacteria to survive. Without these proteins, the bacteria die and the infection subsides. When infection hits your body, you need to take antibiotics to kill the bacteria and rid your body of the toxins they excrete.
