Antibiotics
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The antibiotic effect of Penicillium was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. The beginnings of industrial manufacturing and marketing of antibiotics took place in 1946.
An antibiotic is a substance produced by a microorganism which has the power to inhibit other micro-organisms up to and including by destroying them. . This definition was created by S.A. Waksman in 1941.
The term antibiotic has widened considerably since this definition and includes synthetic and semi synthetic products that have nothing to do with the natural substances produced by micro-organisms involved in the initial discoveries.
Antibiotics can, in most cases, fight very effectively against many formerly fatal infectious diseases such as meningitis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, syphilis, etc. The scope of action of antibiotics has spread to diseases such as angina in their various forms. Thanks to antibiotics alone it is estimated that the lifespan of the human species has been extended by ten years.
However, current consumer misuse of antibiotics has led to a decrease in their effectiveness through the development of bacterial resistance.
The current medical arsenal allows most infectious bacterial species to be neutralised. Antibiotics inhibit the biochemical systems that support the life and reproduction of infectious bacteria. We define the therapeutic value of an antibiotic on the basis of the balance between its effect on the harmful microbe and its relative safety in relation to the host organism.
However, three kinds of problems remain:
- antibiotics do not affect endocellular parasites (protozoa and viruses), that is to say, parasites located inside the cells. When the disease is recognized as viral in origin, as is the case with influenza, the use of the antibiotics is not helpful except in cases where the risk of microbial super infection...
- (as is the case with all drugs), the side effects of antibiotics are many: hypersensitivity to penicillin; nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity in the case of streptomycin; agranulocytosis in the case of chloramphenicol; cardiac incidents in the case of rubidomycine; ionic imbalance in the case of tetracycline. All antibiotics that are absorbed orally disrupt the intestinal flora.
- Mutant resistant microbial strains (development of one or more factors of resistance in the form of antibiotic-inactivating enzymes) occur and reduce the therapeutic value of antibiotics.
The widespread use of antibiotics in both human and animal therapy has greatly contributed to the emergence and development of resistance.
There are two main sets of antibiotics: natural antibiotics (derived from bacterial strains that produce an antibiotic) and synthetic antibiotics (very difficult because of the complexity of the molecules).
The action of antibiotics on the biology of the target cell is multiple and in return the antibiotics have been used to provide vital information in molecular biology.
Antibiotics need to be prescribed in moderation to avoid the appearance of new resistances and preserve the therapeutic arsenal. This goes hand in hand with the strengthening of hygiene measures, the provision of training and information to all medical staff and monitoring of the evolution of bacteria. All this is to prevent the development of multidrug resistance and reduce the transmission of resistant bacteria between patients.