An antibiotic is a normal metabolic product of actinomycetes and other microorganisms and it kills or inhibits the growth of other microbial species. For example, streptomycin’s block protein synthesis in their targets. Penicillins disrupt formation of covalent bonds that hold bacterial cell walls together. Penicillin derivatives cause the wall to weaken until it ruptures. The known antibiotics don’t’s have comparable effects on protein coats of viruses. If you have a viral infection, antibiotics won’t help.
Antibiotics must be carefully prescribed. Besides performing their intended function of counterattacking pathogens, some can disrupt the normal populations of bacteria in the intestines and of yeast cells in the vaginal canal. Such disruptions can lead to secondary infections.
Overprescribed antibiotics have lost their punch. Over time, they destroyed the most susceptible cells of target populations and favored their replacement by more resistant ones. Antibiotic-resistant strains have made tuberculosis, typhoid, gonorrhea, staph infections, and other bacterial diseases more difficult to treat. In a few cases, superbugs that cause tuberculosis cannot be treated successfully.
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