There are many different classes of antibiotics. They target different bacteria and work in different ways. I will only talk about some of them since all the different names is enough to give anyone a headache if unprepared.
First of all, antibiotics can be separated into 3 groups based on how they work. An antibiotic will either inhibit cell wall, protein, or nucleic acid production. You can then categorize antibiotics into even more specific groups, such as beta-lactams, quinolones, and macrolides. Then you have specific antibiotics, like amoxicillin. Let's take a look at some of the classes.
Beta-lactams include many different antibiotics. The first antibiotic found from this group was penicillin. Antibiotics from this class contain a beta-lactam ring. These antibiotics mess with the cell wall by messing with the production of peptidoglycan, which is an important part of the cell wall in a bacteria. Beta-lactam antibiotics are most effective against Gram-positve(refers to how bacteria react to the dye test) bacteria.
Macrolides are the second most common antibiotic prescribed in the US. Macrolides target the mechanisms for building proteins, stopping bacteria growth and reproduction. Macrolides are effective against Gram-positive bacteria.
Quinolones are broad-spectrum antibiotics that mess with DNA transcription and replication. These were prescribed a lot in 2002, being the most prescribed antibiotic in that year. Resistance developed pretty quickly because of how much they were prescribed.
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Antibiotics
Non-FictionJust some science articles on topics related to antibiotics I'm writing. I'm kind of using Wattpad as an offline Google Docs. I wrote something and it's here, so I might as well share it.
