NICOLE MURDOCK CHEMISTRY 1010 E-PORTFOLIO APRIL 2014 The Chemistry Behind Antibiotics

History of Antibiotics In 1928,British scientist Alexander Fleming was in his laboratory when he noticed that there was a substance in a mold that had killed bacteria in a petri dish. He named the substance penicillin after the type of mold it came from which is Penicillium. Mirror.co.uk After years of research and experimentation, researchers discovered that penicillin could cure infections that used to be fatal such as meningitis, strep throat and ear infections. Penicillin was used during World War II and became accessible to the public in the mid 1940’s. Today, several different types of antibiotics are available.

Chemical Structure of Penicillin There are several different types of Penicillin. Some types of penicillin are made naturally while others are synthetic. All types of Penicillin have a common core structure. The most common type that is used is called Penicillin G. Wikipedia.org Penicillin G Penicillin.wikispace.com Common core structure

How It Works Penicillin prevents bacteria from forming cells. The penicillin bonds on an enzyme on the bacterial cell that allows more bacteria to be produced. With the penicillin attached to the enzyme, it can’t form more bacteria. This causes the cell walls of the bacteria to break down. Antibiotics can be given to patients orally or through injections depending on how stable it is to acid inside the body. Shodor.org

Interesting Facts Antibiotics cannot treat viral illnesses. Since the creation of Penicillin, there have been more than 150 types of antibiotics created. There are narrow spectrum and broad spectrum antibiotics. The narrow spectrum only kills a small range of bacteria while broad spectrum can kill a larger variety of them. Antibiotics are also used to control and prevent diseases in animals. Humanhealth.com

Problems of Antibiotics Some types of bacteria have built a resistance to antibiotics. Bacteria builds a resistance by creating a genetic mutation and from self prescription. This has made it difficult to cure certain infections. Bacteria can lose their resistance to antibiotics but it is a slow process. Doctors have become more cautious and try to only prescribe antibiotics for the worst infections. Familymedicalmanagement.org

Works Cited Text: issues/conditions/treatments/pages/The-History-of-Antibiotics.aspx issues/conditions/treatments/pages/The-History-of-Antibiotics.aspx Images: that-were-discovered-by-luck that-were-discovered-by-luck