drugs

• drug is a substance that alters the metabolism of the body
• there are 2 types of drugs:

  1. medicine
  2. illegal
• antibiotics known as antibacterial are medications that slow down or destroy the growth of bacteria
• antibiotics cannot treat viral infections such as a cold, or flu
• antibiotic drugs are used to treat bacterial infections
• some antibiotic kill bacteria by:

  1. destroying their cell wall = cell burst
  2. inhibit their growth
• viruses cannot be killed by antibiotics as they don't grow and reproduce in the same way as bacteria, they also don't have similar structures
• Animal cells do not have cell walls, and the cell structures involved in protein production are different so, antibiotics do not damage human cells although they may produce some side effects such as allergic reactions
• If a course of antibiotics is not completed, some of the bacteria which is being used to destroy will not be killed, but will have been exposed to the drug. Some of the survivors may be drug-resistant mutants. When they reproduce, all their offspring will have the drug resistance, so the antibiotic will become less effective
• Resistance to antibiotics result in antibiotic resistant bacterial infections in hospitals such as MRSA
• It is important to slow the development of resistant bacterial strains by: 1) using antibiotic for serious infections

  2) completing the full course of antibiotics

  3) do not use for viral or fungal infections

  4) develop new antibiotics

  5) do not use the same antibiotics for too long

  6) use combinations of antibiotics

  7) isolation of patients with antibiotic-resistant infections