The bacteria belong to the vast array of microbes that also include viruses, fungi and parasites. Micro-organisms invisible to the naked eye, the bacteria consist of a single cell without a true nucleus. They contain a single chromosome which is in the form of a long filament DNA curled upon itself. Found in the cytoplasm of small pieces of circular DNA plasmids.
Bacteria pathogenic to humans are the cause of many infectious diseases, especially in developing countries, are still uncontrolled. In 1995, infectious diseases were responsible for large number of deaths worldwide. In developed countries, antibiotics and vaccines were effective in controlling what until World War II, remained a problem.
Antibiotics are natural substances produced by soil bacteria and fungi which, at low concentrations, act on other bacteria without being toxic to humans. To protect themselves from the action of antibiotics, these bacteria had developed resistance mechanisms. The first antibacterial agents used in humans were chemical dyes, sulfonamides, discovered in 1937.
The first true antibiotic was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 and introduced in therapeutics in 1941 and is the famous penicillin G produced by a fungus that had contaminated a laboratory culture.
The first effective TB, streptomycin, was discovered in 1943. It is to these big drugs followed by new families of antibiotics that were the huge success of antibiotic therapy.
Antibiotics have a natural origin if they are extracted from living organisms. They can also be obtained by chemical synthesis or partial. Each antibiotic has a specific mode of action. Depending on their concentration and contact time with bacteria, they can kill bacteria (bactericidal) or slow their growth (bacteriostatic effect). These drugs address four major mechanisms of action. They can:disrupt the formation of bacterial cell wall: penicillins, cephalosporins, vancomycin, inhibit protein synthesis: chloramphenicol, streptomycin, tetracycline, block the replication of bacterial DNA: quinolones, or RNA synthesis: rifampicin, alter the energy metabolism of the bacteria: sulfonamides, trimethoprim.
The discovery of antibiotics has raised hopes that it would be possible to suppress all infectious diseases. The phenomenon of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has stopped this "fatal delusion." The phenomenon itself is not new. What is new and is a real threat, it is the extent of the so-called rise in resistance.
Whenever antibiotics are used during treatment, the risks of selection are: susceptible bacteria disappear, but others can adapt and survive.
Hospitals, nursing homes, nurseries and schools also promote the development of resistance, because in these buildings, often rub people treated with antibiotics. This promiscuity promotes the transmission of new resistant bacteria from one individual to another.
A caution! If antibiotics are used improperly there is a possibility that the bacteria may become resistant and the antibiotic results will be less effective against that particular type of type bacterium.
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Read more details about Antibiotic Security and Prescription Drug Security .
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