Are Antibiotics too dangerous to be used?

Hi, Im doing an essay on Antibiotics. The essay question is 'Are Antibiotics too dangerous to be used?'

There are 3 sections to the essay:

Biological Relevance

Impact of the issue

Management

Ive started my essay and have talked about the types of antibiotics:

1. Bactericidals
I have said how they work. They inhibit peptidoglycan synthesis and some inhibit protien synethsis. i have written about how they do this ect.
2. Bacteriostatics
I am stuck on how Bacteriostatic Agents work. Could you please help me.

I dont know what points i should make about the impact of the issue. The topic doesnt really seem like an issue. The only dangers of antibiotics i have identified so far are 1. allergic reactions, 2. Destruction of Beneficial Bowel Flora 3. Development of Resistant strains of bacteria.

could you please suggest any good yet common books or texts, articles anything for me to use to research? And help me identify the dangers of Antibiotics?

Thanks!

one more thing!
http://www.utmb.edu/otoref/Grnds/Antibiotics-update-2005/Antibiotics-2005_0412.htm
I read on this site that Aminoglycosides inhibit cell respiration. How do they do this?

icedoxx wrote:

is this how all bacteriostatic agents work? or just tetracycline?

Let's start with bacteriostatics. Not all bacteriostatics work the same. Tetracycline is just one example. Tetracycline can affect eukaryotic cells as well by inhibiting cell respiration (along with Aminoglycosides). Mitochondria has prokaryotic origins and has 30S ribosome like bacteria and that results in toxicity to human cells. Bactericidal mode of action of Aminoglycosides is not fully understood.

However, you already mentioned the major danger of using antibiotics too often "Development of Resistant strains of bacteria". To discuss this properly, you would need to look up the lateral gene transfer via plasmid. That is where one bacterium can copy its plasmid that contains resistant gene and pass it on to the other bacteria.

I am not sure what your level of study is, so I would suggest first to go to electronic article section of your school's website and searching through the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

I would also suggest that you post your draft under assay review section. That is the easiest way to see if you are on the right track.

Good luck!

I will post as much as i have done so far in the drafts section.

if the draft appears on this website will it compromise the authenticity of my work? (will my teacher think its plagiarized because it has appeared on this website?)

I havent yet started to talk about bacterostatics in my essay yet mainly because i was lost. I will write up that section tonight and repost it as a draft for tomorrow.

Cheers,

P.S thankyou very much for the help.

I don’t think so, as long as you post it with your real name (which you already did), but you could double check with your teacher…

inhibiting cell respiration (along with Aminoglycosides). Mitochondria has prokaryotic origins and has 30S ribosome like bacteria and

Bacteria dont have mitochondria as they are prokaryotic..? so how does tetracycline inhibit cell respiration in aerobic bacteria?

cheers,

No, it's their side effect in humans.