antibiotics and painkillers

In order to kill a pathogen that is causing disease antibiotics must be used.

Penicillin

Penicillin was discovered when Alexander Fleming spotted bacteria did not grow around the spot of the mould penicillium that was growing on his Petri dishes. Penicillin works by killing bacteria inside the body. Not all antibiotics work on all bacteria therefore it is important that the correct antibiotic is used to treat a specific infection.

There are two problems with using antibiotic to treat infectious disease:

• Antibiotics cannot kill viruses ( viral pathogens )

• Bacteria can build up resistance

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

How resistance works

A mutation will occur in a population of bacteria causing resistance, this will then lead to a population of resistant bacteria forming.