Interactive Resources for Schools
This topic takes on average 55 minutes to read.
There are a number of interactive features in this resource:
Biology
Chemistry
PSHE / Citizenship studies
Science
Antimicrobialantimicrobial
A group of medicines including antibiotics, anti-viral and anti-fungal medicines. These are used to treat infections by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
s are a group of medicines used to treat infections. This group includes antibioticantibiotic
Medicine that is used to treat bacterial infections and works by killing or stopping the growth and reproduction of bacteria. These can be specific to a particular bacteria or act on groups of related bacteria.
s (which treat bacteriabacteria
Single-celled organism. Has a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm. Its DNA is loosely-coiled in the cytoplasm and there is no distinct nucleus.
l infections) and antifungals (which treat fungal infections). Neither antibiotics nor antifungals are capable of treating viral infections.
Many antimicrobialsantimicrobials
A group of medicines including antibiotics, anti-viral and anti-fungal medicines. These are used to treat infections by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
are produced in nature by soil bacteria and fungi. This enables the microorganism to kill off its competition and consequently have an advantage in its environment when competing for limited resources.
Before antimicrobialsantimicrobials
A group of medicines including antibiotics, anti-viral and anti-fungal medicines. These are used to treat infections by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
were discovered, many people died from infections that today are easily treated. The discovery of antimicrobials transformed global health and revolutionised medicine.
Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibioticantibiotic
Medicine that is used to treat bacterial infections and works by killing or stopping the growth and reproduction of bacteria. These can be specific to a particular bacteria or act on groups of related bacteria.
, penicillin, in 1928. Fleming noticed that bacteriabacteria
Single-celled organism. Has a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm. Its DNA is loosely-coiled in the cytoplasm and there is no distinct nucleus.
l growth had been inhibited on a petri dish accidentally contaminated with the mould Penicillium notatum. He realised that the mould must be producing a compound inhibiting bacterial growth. This compound was penicillin. Two researchers at Oxford University, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, investigated Fleming’s work further and showed that penicillin could be used to treat infections in patients. In 1945, Fleming, Florey and Chain shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for “the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases”.
The first antifungal, nystatin, was discovered in 1949 by Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen. Hazen cultured bacteriabacteria
Single-celled organism. Has a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm. Its DNA is loosely-coiled in the cytoplasm and there is no distinct nucleus.
from soil samples collected all over the US. She then tested to see if any of the compounds the bacteria produced were effective at killing fungi. When she saw something promising, she sent it in the post to Brown, who isolated and purified the compounds. Brown then posted the compounds back to Hazen who tested them on the fungi again and then if effective, tested them on animals. This went on until they found an active non-toxic compound. The compound they discovered was nystatin, which remains an effective treatment for skin, mouth, vaginal and intestinal tract fungal infections.
There are now hundreds of antibioticantibiotic
Medicine that is used to treat bacterial infections and works by killing or stopping the growth and reproduction of bacteria. These can be specific to a particular bacteria or act on groups of related bacteria.
s on the market, the majority of which come from a limited number of classes of antibioticsclasses of antibiotics
A group of antibiotics with the same mode of action.
. There are far fewer antifungals on the market, only approximately 20 in total.
Antimicrobialsantimicrobials
A group of medicines including antibiotics, anti-viral and anti-fungal medicines. These are used to treat infections by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
take advantage of the structural differences between microorganisms and human cells.
Antimicrobial modes of action can be classified as either:
Antimicrobials target specific parts of the microorganism. Due to structural variation between microorganisms, antimicrobials are only active against individual species or groups of species.
Based on specificity antimicrobials can be classified as either:
Antibioticantibiotic
Medicine that is used to treat bacterial infections and works by killing or stopping the growth and reproduction of bacteria. These can be specific to a particular bacteria or act on groups of related bacteria.
s, NHS
Antifungals, NHS
Antimicrobialantimicrobial
A group of medicines including antibiotics, anti-viral and anti-fungal medicines. These are used to treat infections by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
agents in the treatment of infectious disease, Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology