How do antibiotics kill bacteria?

Antibiotics work by affecting things that bacterial cells have but human cells don't. For example, human cells do not have cell walls, while many types of bacteria do. The antibiotic penicillin works by keeping a bacterium from building a cell wall. read more

While all antibiotics will kill or stop the growth of bacteria, not all antibiotics are effective against the same bacteria, and not all antibiotics fight bacteria in the same way. The type of antibiotic your doctor prescribes to treat your infection depends on the type of bacteria causing that infection. read more

Most bacteria produce a cell wall that is composed partly of a macromolecule called peptidoglycan, itself made up of amino sugars and short peptides. Human cells do not make or need peptidoglycan. Penicillin, one of the first antibiotics to be used widely, prevents the final cross-linking step, or transpeptidation, in assembly of this macromolecule. read more

Antibiotic resistance is another problem that has led to the need for different types of antibacterial drugs. Once a certain antibiotic becomes widely used, bacteria quickly develop resistance to being harmed by it, so new antibiotics have to be found to kill these tougher bacteria. read more

Antibiotics are medications used specifically to kill or disable bacteria. All bacteria are prokaryotic. organisms, meaning that their cells are different than cells of the human body. These differences can be exploited, so that antibiotic drugs can kill bacteria without harming us. read more

Human cells do not make or need peptidoglycan. Penicillin, one of the first antibiotics to be used widely, prevents the final cross-linking step, or transpeptidation, in assembly of this macromolecule. The result is a very fragile cell wall that bursts, killing the bacterium. read more