How do antibiotics work?

Answer 1

Antibiotics act by damaging bacteria through inhibiting their ability to function such as blocking their ability to grow, make genetic material to reproduce with, or make enzymes necessary for their lives.

First it depends on the area infected by the bacteria.

Once that is settled apply antibiotics on the infected area and patience is key so wait a while and you should feel better soon hope i could help.

Each antibiotic, on a general sense, act on a different manner, but essentially by inhibiting some biological function of a determined bacteria that the antibiotic is fighting against.

Answer 2

Different types or classes of antibiotics work in different ways. All antibiotics are for killing, or inhibiting the growth and reproduction of, bacteria. They do not work on other types of germs and are ineffective for treating viruses, for example.

Some antibiotics are bactereotoxic and kill the organisms with toxic substances. Bacteria, unlike viruses, are living organisms, and are able to be killed this way.

Other classes of antibiotics target different parts of the bacteria in the inhibition of growth and reproduction, and are called bacteriostatic antibiotics. Each antibiotic may have a specific target in the bacterium cell that it affects. Bactereostatic antibiotics stop the ability of the bacteria to multiply. This causes a weaker organism that is less severe infection to fight, and enables your own immune system to destroy the targeted bacterial invaders before you become too severely ill (and sometimes even before you have symptoms).

One class of antibiotics, for example, is known as beta lactam antibiotics. Penicillin and similar antibiotics are in this class. These antibiotics are bactereostatic and prevent the cell wall of the bacterium from forming properly. This does not directly kill the bacterium, but does stop it from reproducing and allows your body to finish the job of removing the infectious agent. This shows why antibiotics do not work on viruses; they are not made of cells and are not living organisms.

There are some bacteria that have now evolved or mutated to be able to resist or disable a specific antibiotic which has been frequently used for treating those bacteria. They are known as antibiotic-resistant bacteria. That mutated and antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria is then very difficult to treat unless a new antibiotic can be developed to replace the prior, and no longer effective, antibiotic.

One resistant type of bacteria that is becoming more widespread and dangerous (and is too often present in hospitals and other medical institutions), is known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA is also sometimes called the "flesh eating bacteria" as it can cause very rapidly spreading and hard-to-stop damage to the infected tissues before treatment can be effective.

These resistant bacterial infections usually require a quite lengthy and full-blown attack with multiple classes of antibiotics and different strong antibiotics of the classes, each risky and potentially damaging in their own right. Taking any medication is not without risk.

MRSA and others of these "super bugs" are sometimes caused by misused and over-used antibiotics. It is critically important that we all take antibiotics exactly as prescribed. When they are not taken long enough (until all are gone), consistently enough (on schedule as prescribed), or as often as directed each day, you will not have enough of the antibiotic chemicals built up in your body to kill the bacteria and may only damage or cause them to mutate into resistant types.

Do not take leftover antibiotics later for another infection; do not take the prescription of someone else. If you do, the drugs may not work at all for the particular infection you have, but they may still contribute to the problem of resistant bacterial mutations if used when not needed or not effective on that specific organism. You should never really have any leftover antibiotics, anyway.

You could also be contributing to these mutations if you do not take all prescribed antibiotics as directed and until alldoses are gone. You may start feeling better before all bacteria have been killed, and if you stop the medicine then, your symptoms of infection will come back later, and you have perhaps helped the bacteria mutate.

Do not demand, whine or beg for antibiotics from your health care professional to treat a cold or the flu, for example. Let the doctor decide if your infection is due to bacteria and, if so, they will determine what antibiotic will be most effective and is best for you to use for your type of infection, and at what dosage, frequency, and duration.