antibiotics Flashcards
what type of diseases are caused by bacteria
name the examples
gonorrhoea
salmonella food poisoning
around the 1940s many people were dying because of bacterial diseases, what did scientists then discovered to help treat this?
scientists discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin
what was the first antibiotic discovered
penicillin
how can most bacterial diseases be treatable?
through the use of antibiotics
what do antibiotics do?
they kill infective bacteria inside the human body, without harming body cells
what problem did scientists discover with antibiotics?
why?
what is this called?
they discovered that certain antibiotics were no longer effective against certain bacteria
this is because antibiotics had been overused
meaning the bacteria had evolved so that they were no longer killed by the antibiotic
this is called antibiotic resistance
what is antibiotic resistance
when an antibiotic is overused so the bacteria evolves so that they are no longer killed by the antibiotics
why is antibiotic resistance a serious problem?
in the future, bacterial diseases will become very difficult to treat
doctors always use ____ antibiotics to treat _____ bacteria
doctors always use specific antibiotics to treat specific bacteria
what are antibiotics unable to do
can not kill viruses (only bacteria)
what do painkillers do?
painkillers treat the symptoms of a disease by relieving pain
medicines such as painkillers do not kill pathogens
antibiotics can not kill viruses , why is that?
viruses live and reproduce inside human cells, meaning it’s difficult to develop drugs that kill viruses without also damaging the body’s tissue
