Antibiotics

• What happened around the 1940's?

  Scientists discovered the first antibiotic which was penicillin. These days, the use of antibiotics means that most bacterial diseases are treatable.
• What do antibiotics do?

  Kill infective bacteria inside the human body, without harming body cells.
• What happened several years ago?

  Doctors discovered that certain antibiotics were no longer effective against certain bacteria. That is because antibiotics had been overused, this meant the bacteria had evolved so that they were no longer killed by the antibiotic. This is called antibiotic resistance.
• What do doctors use when treating specific bacteria?

  Specific antibiotics.
• What can antibiotics not kill?

  Viruses
• What do painkillers treat?

  The symptoms of disease by relieving pain. Medicines such as painkillers do not kill pathogens.
• What do viruses do?

  Live and reproduce inside human cells. Because of this, it is difficult to develop drugs that kill viruses without also damaging the body's tissues.