What Are Antibiotics

What Are Antibiotics. They kill the bacteria or prevent them from growing and multiplying.

The word antibiotics originated during mid 19th century (in the sense ‘doubting the possibility of life in a particular environment’): from anti- + Greek biōtikos ‘fit for life’ (from bios ‘life’).

In other words, antibiotics are “against life”; in this case, against microbes…—antibacterials, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics. Some drugs are effective against many organisms; these are called broad-spectrum antibiotics – healthychildren.org

In layman’s term, antibiotics are bacteria killers. The question is what type or kind of bacteria that infected your children, teens, and adults. Once and for all, antibiotics are not the same.

Urgent Care picks the appropriate antibiotic for a specific infection. Using the wrong medication may be ineffective and can contribute to antibiotic resistance.

If you take the wrong medication, it won’t be effective.
On top of that, it may have unpleasant and unwanted side effects. In most cases, side effects of antibiotics are pretty benign. But, for example, taking those broad-spectrum antibiotics for an extended period of time can put you at risk for C. diff, a severe and hard-to-treat infection. – ClevelandClinic.org

The differences among antibiotics are mechanism of action, spectrum of activity, targeted infection, and chemical structure. In simplest explanation – they are not created equal. Each antibiotic has its own target and specialty. This is why only your doctor can prescribe it.