What is an antibiotic?
In the 1940s, a scientist by the name of Fleming was growing some bacteria for an experiment. He was a bit sloppy with his bacteria (not unusual for scientists) and he found some ugly fungus growing on the plates along with the bacteria. Most people would have said “Yuk!” and then thrown the contaminated plate in the garbage…..but Fleming, though sloppy, was a very observant guy and he saw that in the places where the fungus had grown, the bacteria were dying. Why? Well, as he later found out and became famous for, the fungus produced a protein that was toxic to bacteria….and thus an ANTIBIOTIC was discovered. This particular antibiotic we now call penicillin….but there are many different antibiotics produced by many different fungi.
Antibiotics, also known as antimicrobial drugs, are drugs that fight infections caused by bacteria. Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1927. After the first use of antibiotics in the 1940s, they transformed medical care and dramatically reduced illness and death from infectious diseases. The term “antibiotic” originally referred to a natural compound produced by a fungus or another microorganism that kills bacteria which cause disease in humans or animals. Some antibiotics may be synthetic compounds (not produced by microorganisms) that can also kill or inhibit the growth of microbes. Technically, the term “antimicrobial agent” refers to both natural and synthetic compounds; however, many people use the word “antibiotic” to refer to both. Although antibiotics have many beneficial effects, their use has contributed to the problem of antibiotic resistance.
