Friday, January 7, 2011

What is antibiotics?

Antibiotics is a substance that kills microorganisms or slows their growth.

The term "antibiotic" was coined by Selman Waksman in 1942 to review any substance produced by a microorganism that is antagonistic to the growth of other microorganisms in high dilution. This original definition excluded naturally occurring substances that kill bacteria but are not produced by microorganisms (such as gastric juice and hydrogen peroxide) and also excluded synthetic antibacterial compounds such as the sulfonamides. Many antibiotics are relatively small molecules with a molecular weight less than 2000 atomic mass units.