i am sure you are all
familiar with the alexander fleming petri dish story and the discovery
of penicillin (which is derived from fungus) but did you know that another
class of β lactam antibiotics which is sort of a cousin to penicillins, the cephalosporins, were initially isolated from sewer water?
before you all hate me and want to throw your antibiotics down the sink, you should know that when we tell you to finish the course, it is for good reason: antibiotics control infectious microorganisms. just stop and think about that for a moment. a microorganism is a living thing. they are species of small bugs which invade a host of ideal environmental conditions for replication and they begin to reproduce in these ideal conditions. whether you believe in charles darwin or not, he was right about evolution (if you dont believe me, perhaps a visit to the galápagos islands may change your mind? either that or you can continue reading about antibiotics in a blog about trains...)
anyway, the invading microorganisms adapt to their environment, because they want to survive inside the host. once the host begins a course of antibiotics, the drug begins killing off the invaders by any of a number of mechanisms (my friends will laugh and remember how i prepared for the oral exam at this point when describing the mechanism of action of antibiotics which affect the cell wall of the microorganism...)
by killing off the microorganisms, the antibiotics are helping the human host to recover from their infection. however, remember that this is not a static system, the microorganisms are living things with their own agenda, and thus adapt to the altered environment. they essentially begin to alter themselves, to make them less susceptible to attack from the antibiotic (think camouflage army gear in the jungle as opposed to civilian clothes, the camouflaged have a higher chance of survival). by stopping abruptly, you give the microorganisms the advantage, as they have the tools they need to keep replicating resistant (camouflaged) strains, without the added pressure of more and more antibiotics being pumped into the system and knocking them down further. if you continue for the required duration, the antibiotics have had a chance to control the pathogens, which may or may not have developed resistance (lets say they have) but by continuing the course you keep knocking their population down to a point where your own immune system has a chance to do its job, and the good guys (immune cells) can come in and swoop on the pathogenic microorganisms like harry potter swooping on the golden snitch in a game of quidditch. hopefully that makes some degree of sense, because it is a pretty watered down version (typed while on the train). also, it is s long digression from my initial point of this blog!
before you all hate me and want to throw your antibiotics down the sink, you should know that when we tell you to finish the course, it is for good reason: antibiotics control infectious microorganisms. just stop and think about that for a moment. a microorganism is a living thing. they are species of small bugs which invade a host of ideal environmental conditions for replication and they begin to reproduce in these ideal conditions. whether you believe in charles darwin or not, he was right about evolution (if you dont believe me, perhaps a visit to the galápagos islands may change your mind? either that or you can continue reading about antibiotics in a blog about trains...)
anyway, the invading microorganisms adapt to their environment, because they want to survive inside the host. once the host begins a course of antibiotics, the drug begins killing off the invaders by any of a number of mechanisms (my friends will laugh and remember how i prepared for the oral exam at this point when describing the mechanism of action of antibiotics which affect the cell wall of the microorganism...)
by killing off the microorganisms, the antibiotics are helping the human host to recover from their infection. however, remember that this is not a static system, the microorganisms are living things with their own agenda, and thus adapt to the altered environment. they essentially begin to alter themselves, to make them less susceptible to attack from the antibiotic (think camouflage army gear in the jungle as opposed to civilian clothes, the camouflaged have a higher chance of survival). by stopping abruptly, you give the microorganisms the advantage, as they have the tools they need to keep replicating resistant (camouflaged) strains, without the added pressure of more and more antibiotics being pumped into the system and knocking them down further. if you continue for the required duration, the antibiotics have had a chance to control the pathogens, which may or may not have developed resistance (lets say they have) but by continuing the course you keep knocking their population down to a point where your own immune system has a chance to do its job, and the good guys (immune cells) can come in and swoop on the pathogenic microorganisms like harry potter swooping on the golden snitch in a game of quidditch. hopefully that makes some degree of sense, because it is a pretty watered down version (typed while on the train). also, it is s long digression from my initial point of this blog!
