Antibiotics

What is an antibiotic?

Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Antibiotics cure disease by killing or injuring bacteria. Today, over 100 different antibiotics are available to cure minor, and life-threatening infections. Although antibiotics are useful in a wide variety of infections, please note that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections (as common cold) and fungal infections (such as ringworm). Some are highly specialised and are only effective against certain bacteria. Others, known as broad-spectrum antibiotics, attack a wide range of bacteria, including ones that are beneficial to us. There are two main ways in which antibiotics target bacteria. They either prevent the reproduction of bacteria, or they kill the bacteria, for example by stopping the mechanism responsible for building their cell walls.