Antibiotics

Antibiotics

Introduction

Antibiotics are medications that are used to treat different diseases. They are one of the most widely prescribed medications and are also known as antibacterial. The word antibiotic is Greek in origin, where “anti” refers to against while “biotic” refers to life. Thus, these medical agents are responsible to inhibit or kill the bacteria that are causing harm in a living being. This document has described antibiotics in detail.

Discussion

History and classificationthe word antibiotics were first used by Dr. Selman A. Waksman in 1942 (Clardy, Fischbach, Currie, 2009), . The term was later modified, with the delivery of first antibiotic, penicillin by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain. Different antibiotics work by different mechanisms. They either inhibit the bacterial growth (bacteriostatic) or kill them (bactericidal). The antibiotics are most commonly classified on the basis of their mechanism of action. This classification is given as follows:

Penicillins

Cephalosporins

Tetracyclines

Macrolides

Glycopeptides

Quinolones

Aminoglycosides

Streptomycin

Oxazolidinones

Major drugs in classification

Every group further incorporates antibiotics that have their own mechanism of actions. Some of the significant antibiotics included in the aforementioned categories are as follows (Steane, 2013)

Penicillin

Amoxicillin

Ampicillin

Ticarcillin

Piperacillin

Cephalosporins

1st generation

Cefazolin

Cefadroxil

2nd generation

Cefaclor

Cefprozil

3rd generation

Cefixime

Ceftizoxime

Ceftriaxone

4th generation

Cefepime

5th generation

Ceftobiprole

Tetracyclines

Doxycycline

Doxycycline

Minocycline

Macrolides

Azithromycin

Clarithromycin

Erythromycin

Glycopeptides

Telavancin

Quinolones

Ciprofloxacin

Levofloxacin

Ciprofloxacin

Nalidixic acid

Aminoglycosides

Gentamicin

Neomycin

Tobramycin

Pathophysiology of Diseases Treated By Antibiotic

The diseases that are treated by antibiotics comprises of a diverse bacterial population, each affecting the human body in its own way. The bacterial infection can start from a mild infection with simple signs and symptoms, and might develop into a life threatening infection involving the brain and other vital organs of the body. There are many bacteria, and their pathogenicity depends on their origin and their composition. Some commonly occurring bacteria are Escherichia. Coli (E.Coli), streptococcus, Staphylococcus and vice versa (Medicine plus, 2012). These viruses attack different parts of the body. For example, E.Coli is capable of causing urinary tract infections, travelers diarrhoea, bacteremia and neonatal meningitis. Taking neonatal meningitis as an example, the bacteria compromises the defense system of the neonates, including the t cell mediated immunity and B cell activity. The phagocytosis is also initiated by the bacteria, resulting in an extremely low immunity and an increased vulnerability to low virulence pathogens (Dredge, Kao, 2012).

Mechanism of Action In The Body-Discuss Thoroughly

Different antibiotics have a different mechanism of action in the body. Some of them are bacteriostatic, and others are bactericidal. In the same way, some antibiotics are broad spectrum antibiotics while others are not. However, the mechanism of action can be divided into following four categories:

Inhibition or regulation of enzymes involved in cell wall biosynthesis

Inhibition or regulation of enzymes involved in protein synthesis

Inhibition or regulation of enzymes involved in nucleic acid metabolism

Disruption of the structure of cell membrane

Penicillins work by interfering with this synthesis (Moore, 2013). The penicillins can be naturally occurring, or they can be synthesized artificially in the laboratories. Amoxicillin is an example of synthesized penicillin, which acts as a bacteriostatic. It is an irreversible inhibitor of Beta lactamase. It is a broad spectrum antibiotic that acts against both, gram negative and gram positive bacteria.

The bactericidal antibiotics work by altering the pathway of bacterial cell wall synthesis. The bacteriostatic works in an opposite ...