antibiotics and painkillers

around the 1940s what was the first antibiotic that scientists discovered?

penicillin

what does the use of antibiotics mean?

that most bacterial diseases are treatable.

what do antibiotics kill?

antibiotics kill infective bacteria inside the human body, without harming body cells.

what did doctors discover several years ago and why was this?

several years ago doctors discovered that certain antibiotics were no longer effective against certain bacteria, this is because antibiotics had been overused.

due to antibiotics being overused what happened to the bacteria?

the bacteria evolved so that they were no longer killed by the antibiotic.

what do scientists call this?

antibiotic resistance

what do doctors use (antibiotic wise)?

doctors always use specific antibiotics to treat specific bacteria.

can antibiotics kill viruses?

no

what do painkillers do?

painkillers treat the symptoms of a disease by relieving pain.

do painkillers kill pathogens?

no

what do viruses do to human cells?

they live and reproduce inside human cells.

due to viruses living and reproducing inside human cells what does this make difficult?

it is difficult to develop drugs that kill viruses without also damaging the body’s tissues.