PHAR 100 Assignment 3
1. Antibiotics are a form of medicine that seek out and destroy the bacteria that make us feel sick. Antibiotics work great against bacteria, however they don’t work against viruses. Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered by Alexander Fleming, and it was first used to treat infections. Essentially, these powerful medicines fight bacterial infections, and have the potential to save lives. They work by either killing the bacteria or retain them from reproducing, with the help of our body’s natural defense system.
When bacteria enter our body, our body produces anti-bodies. In other words, they act like soldiers searching for the enemy to destroy, and our bodies are like the army defending us against invasive bacteria. Antibiotics have the ability to recognize “the enemy” because bacteria cells are different from other cells in our body. After the bacteria gets killed, our immune system begins to remove them from the body.
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In addition, it is important to know when to use antibiotics. Considering our bodies have their own immune system to combat bacteria, most illnesses improve on their own over time. As our immune system battles any bacteria, it becomes stronger and