MICROM 301 Study Guide - Final Guide: Lactam, Penicillin, Chemotherapy
Document Summary
Antimicrobial medication: an antibiotic or other chemical that acts by inhibiting or killing microorganisms and is used to treat an infectious disease; also called an antimicrobial drug. The misuse of these life-saving medications, coupled with the amazing ability of microorganisms to adapt, has led to an increase in the number of resistant organisms. Antibiotics: antimicrobial medications naturally produced by microorganisms; e. g. penicillin. Chain and florey: first to purify penicillin 1940s. Most antibiotics come from microorganisms that normally live in the soil, including species of streptoyces and bacillus . Alteration of the chemical structure of antibiotics give the medications new properties. Ex: penicillin g, mainly active against gram-positive bacteria can be altered to produce ampicillin, a version that kills a variety of gram-negative species as well. Other unrelated antibiotics have also been altered to give them new characteristics. Microorganisms continually evolve, allowing pathogens to develop resistance to the available antimicrobial medications.
