Antibiotics
- Antibiotics Introduction
- Types of Antibiotics
- Taking Your Medicine
- Side Effects
- Allergy
- Interactions
- Current Issues in Medicine and Antibiotics
- Synonyms and Keywords
- References
- Authors and Editors
Antibiotics Introduction
Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Antibiotics cure disease by killing or injuring bacteria. The first antibiotic was penicillin, discovered accidentally from a mold culture. Today, over 100 different antibiotics are available to doctors to cure minor discomforts as well as life-threatening infections.
Although antibiotics are useful in a wide variety of infections, it is important to realize that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections (for example, the common cold) and fungal infections (such as ringworm). Your doctor can best determine if an antibiotic is right for your condition.
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Antibiotics
MRSA Infection Overview
MRSA is the abbreviation for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus is a group of bacteria, familiarly known as Staph (pronounced "staff"), that can cause a multitude of diseases as a result of infection of various tissues of the body. In 1959, methicillin, an antibiotic closely related to penicillin, was introduced to treat Staphylococcus and other bacterial infections. Within one to two years, Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (S. aureus) started to be isolated that were resistant to methicillin. These S. aureus bacteria were then termed methicillin-resistant. MRSA usually show resistance to many antibiotics.
Because MRSA is so antibiotic resistant, it is termed a "superbug" by some investigators. This superbug is a variation of an already recognized human pathogen, S. aureus, gram-posi...
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Antibiotics: A Review of ED Use »
Note: A one-page reference table with key therapy recommendations taken from this article can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format by clicking the Antibiotics Guidelines Summary.
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