All you should know about antibiotics！

All you should know about antibiotics!

2017 LSM One Health Campaign # 2 (8-9-2017) Antibiotic and One Health video is now available on LSM facebook page https://www.facebook.com/lsmlab/videos/491673807851850/

What is antibiotic?

Antibiotic is a substance that can kill or control the growth of a bacteria. Not all antibiotic can kill. Some of them stop the growth of bacteria (but still alive) so that our body can have more time to kill the bacteria by our own immune system. Both types are good to use depands on clinical presentation.

Where do antibiotics come from?

The earliest antibiotic is extracted from a fungi called Penicillium. This natural substance named penicillin is still a choice against many infection nowadays. Cephalosporins are another type of naturally occur antibiotic extracted from another fungi called Cephalosporium. 

Semi-synthetic antibiotics

Modification of these natural antibiotics result in semi-synthetic antibiotics. Still, these antibiotics are containing the bckbone of the naturally occur antibiotics. Newer type of penicillin, new generation of cephalosporin (now up to 5th generation), carbepenems, tetracyclines are some of the examples.

Synthetic antimicrobial substances

These are hundred percent laboratory-made antimicrobial substances, not even called antibiotics. Quinolones group are some of the examples.

What is the relation between antibiotics and One Health?

Control and prevention of infectious diseases are the major goal of One Health. Bacteria are one of those who responsible for the diseases, and we are now more concern on the spreading of multidrug resistance bacteria than anything in terms of controlling infection. We understand that new antibiotics are not something that we will see in the next ten years or so (maybe a few to come though). As the problem of multidrug resistance bacteria increases, less choice of effective antibiotic will be resulted and we will have more un-treatable infectious diseases that cause serious problem to our health (death, of course) as well as heavy burden to the social public and the healthcare system to appear. The goal of controlling infection is now more on the control of the spreading of multidrug resistance bacteria, and this is up to now the only thing we can do prevent 'multidrug resistance crisis'.