Antibiotics Flashcards
The disprovement of Miasma.
John Snow disproved it by looking at a map of infections of Cholera. He identified that it came from a local water pump in 1854. He used genomic phorensics.
Pasteurization.
Discovered by Louis Pasteur. Eliminates bacteria from food through heating.
H.C. Grams Bacteria Stains.
Using crystal violet and counterstain saffranin. Gram-positive bacteria is bacteria that turns purple. If the bacteria turns orange, it is called gram-negative.
Paul Ehrlich and Salvarsan.
It was the first antibiotic and effective syphillis treatment. It was not very drug like. It was highly toxic, required many injections, took a long time, required large volume of injections. It wasn’t a commercial success. Ehrlich won a nobel prize for it.
Domagk and Prontosil.
First commercially available antibiotic. He won a nobel prize for it. It also only worked in live humans, not in the lab or in animals because it needed to be metabolised to work. Was a sulfa drug.
Sulfa drugs.
They were used a lot in WW2. They work by inhibiting bacterial growth
Penicillin.
Discovered accidentally by Fleming. Florey and Chain isolated the compound. Was initially produced in milk bottles. Required a lot of mold for a little penicillin. Illinois became the penicillin capitol because it has all the machines that were used to industrialize it (injecting oxygen into tanks to produce mold and therefore penicillin).
All 3 men share a nobel prize.
It works by preventing the bacteria cell from rebuilding during its cell division. Without the cell wall, the cell implodes from internal pressure.
It destroys the enzyme that makes the cell wall using b-lactam.
The major side effect is allergy.
Natural vs. Synthetic antibiotics
Natural: Unstable, must be injected, only works for certain bacteria
Synthetic: Storeable, taken orally, works for almost all bacterias.
Antibiotic resistance
Caused by over-prescription, not taking full prescription (user-error), being used in animals that we eat. When taking antibiotics, it’s important to kill all bacteria so that it doesn’t get exposed to the antibiotics and become resistant to it.
Why don’t we develop new antibiotics anymore?
Not cost effective. Hard to recoup the costs of research and testing. Doctors are also hesitant to prescribe new antibiotics.
Main benefits of antibiotics.
Longer life spans, improved quality of life, very safe, very effective.
