Antibiotics Overview

An antibiotic is a chemotherapeutic agent that inhibits or abolishes the growth of micro-organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoa. The term originally referred to any agent with biological activity against living organisms; however, "antibiotic" now refers to substances with anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, or anti-parasitical activity. The first widely used antibiotic compounds used in modern medicine were produced and isolated from living organisms, such as the penicillin class produced by fungi...