Ever wondered what antibiotics are made of? How does little pills can relieve you of pain, headache, cold etc.
Before we get into this properly it is important to point out that basically all diseases are caused by microorganisms, the microorganism could be virus e.g HIV causing AIDS, bacteria e.g. mycobacterium tuberculosis causing Tuberculosis, protozoa e.g plasmodium falciparum causing malaria etc. These organisms find a way to penetrate our bodies and cause these diseases.
Before now antibiotics were made of substances secreted by these microorganisms themselves which are capable of inhibiting the growth of other microorganisms as in the cause of penicillium notatum which killed all other microorganisms surrounding it and is used in the production of the wonder drug Penicillin. However with the advent of technology it has become possible to wholly or partly synthesize substances that can inhibit disease causing microorganisms.
The definition of antibiotics can thus can rephrased as any substance produced by microorganisms or a similar product produced wholly or partly by chemical synthesis which in low concentrations can inhibit the growth of microorganisms.
While there are a lot of chemicals agents that can kill these organisms, not all are capable of killing them in a human or animal body without causing significant damage to the person, there are certain properties an agent must have before it can be used as an antibiotic,
