Question

What are antibiotics? Give two examples

Answer 1

Antibiotics are referred to as the medicines or drugs that are generally prescribed in order to treat various health problems especially those which are non-serious but that are not likely to be resolved without taking antibiotics. Antibiotics are used in case of bacterial infections not for viral infections.

Complete step by step answer:
Antibiotics are actually the chemical substances that are produced from the microorganisms including bacteria and they are employed as a medicine in order to either kill or inhibit the growth of disease-causing microorganisms. The two most common types of antibiotics that attack distinct structures and processes in bacteria in order to either kill them or inhibit their growth are:
(i) Antibiotics that hinders or inhibits the production of a compound vital for the growth of bacteria’s cell wall. This interferes the cell wall expansion while other parts of the cell continue to grow. Consequently, the cell bursts thereby, killing the bacteria. An example of this type of antibiotic is Penicillin, which is generally used to treat pneumonia and several other respiratory tract infections.
(ii) Antibiotic that interferes in the functioning of different processes like production of the proteins. An example of this type of antibiotic is streptomycin which is generally used to treat tuberculosis.
Examples of antibiotics are Penicillin, Cephalosporin, Tetracycline, Aminoglycoside, Streptomycin

Note: Though antibiotics are helpful in fighting the disease, sometimes antibiotics may be harmful. Actually antibiotics can cause several side effects also like allergic reactions which may be sometimes serious, for example it can cause life-threatening diarrhea that is generally caused by the bacteria i.e. Clostridium difficile.