The immune system is the body’s defence network against infections. It is made up of antibodies and a number of specialized cells including leukocytes, neutrophils, phagocytes, B-lymphocytes, and T-lymphocytes. The immune system works to protect the body from disease by recognizing pathogenic microbes, neutralizing them and destroying them.
With the dawn of the antibiotic era, the body’s immune system gained a powerful ally. Antibiotics are medicines that help stop infections specifically caused by bacteria. The word ‘antibiotic’ literally breaks down into: anti (against) and biotic (life). Antibiotics bind to targets on the surface of bacterial cells and work by either killing the bacteria (bactericidal) or by keeping them from copying and reproducing themselves (bacteriostatic).
Contrary to popular belief, antibiotics have no effect on viruses. They only bind to bacterial cell targets and so only affect bacterial cells.
How were antibiotics discovered?
Scientists have found evidence that humans may have used antibiotic agents against disease as far back as 3,000 years ago. Antibiotics are actually compounds produced by soil bacteria and fungi. This fact may explain why the ancient Egyptians had a practice of applying a poultice of moldy bread to infected wounds. Similarly, the red soils in Jordan that were used historically for treating skin infections have been found to be rich with the actinomycete bacteria that
is responsible for producing actinomycin (an antibiotic/anti-cancer treatment).
It was not until 1928, however, that penicillin, the first true antibiotic, was discovered by Alexander Fleming, Professor of Bacteriology at St. Mary's Hospital in London. Upon returning to his lab following a vacation, he discovered that a type of fungus called penicillium had contaminated one of the petri dishes containing a bacterium he had been studying (staphylococci). All the bacteria near the fungal mould had died. Fleming then analyzed the mould and found that it produced a chemical substance that killed bacteria; he named this substance, penicillin. The discovery of penicillin earned Fleming the Nobel Prize in 1945.