Drugs

• drug: any substance taken into the body that modifies or affects chemical reactions
• different antibiotics affect different bacteria in various way:

  • causes the bacterial membrane to break, killing the bacteria cell
  • prevent the bacteria from producing new cells walls
• viruses do not reproduce by dividing or have cell walls and thus cannot be treated by antibiotics
• not all bacterias are killed by antibiotics, some mutate to form bacteria that are resistant
• antibiotics in cannot help in killing these bacteria, thus this bacteria mutate to form a new resistant population
• the resistant bacteria continue to grow (reproduce), eventually becoming a new population; all of their offsprings will be resistant
• natural selection: the gradual change in characteristics of a population due to variation, competition, reproduction and inheritance
• it is important not to use antibiotics in a diluted form, for too short period of time, these practices lead to a build up of a resistant population of bacteria -> antibiotic won't be effective
• staphylococcus aures is a common type of bacterium in humans on the skin or the inside of the nostrils and the throats
• dangerous if it affects the internal organs (can cause death)
• also referred as "MRSA" -> methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus
• more caution must be taken to reduce the risk of resistants developing; the more exposure these bacterias to antibiotics, the more quickly the populations will develop resistance