Manufacture of Antimicrobials / Antibiotics

Ark Two Plan for the Manufacture of Antimicrobials / Antibiotics Antimicrobials / Antibiotics An antimicrobial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microbes such as bacteria (antibacterial activity), fungi (antifungal activity), viruses (antiviral activity), or parasites (anti-parasitic activity). An antibiotic is a chemotherapeutic agent that inhibits or abolishes the growth of micro-organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. The term originally referred to any agent with biological activity against living organisms; however, "antibiotic" now is used to refer to substances with anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, or anti-parasitical activity. The first antibiotic compounds used in modern medicine were produced and isolated from living organisms, such as the penicillin class produced by fungi in the genus Penicillium, or streptomycin from bacteria of the genus Streptomyces. With advances in organic chemistry many antibiotics are now also obtained by chemical synthesis, such as the sulfa drugs. Many antibiotics are relatively small molecules with a molecular weight less than 2000 Da. Unlike previous treatments for infections, which often consisted of administering chemical compounds such as strychnine and arsenic, with high toxicity also against mammals, antibiotics from microbes had no or few side effects and high effective target activity. Most anti-bacterial antibiotics do not have activity against viruses, fungi, or other microbes. Anti-bacterial antibiotics can be categorized based on their target specificity: "narrow-spectrum" antibiotics target particular types of bacteria, such as Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacteria, while broad-spectrum antibiotics affect a wide range of bacteria. The effectiveness of individual antibiotics varies with the location of the infection, the ability of the antibiotic to reach the site of infection, and the ability of the microbe to inactivate or excrete the antibiotic. Some anti-bacterial antibiotics destroy bacteria (bactericidal), whereas others prevent bacteria from multiplying (bacteriostatic). Oral antibiotics are simply ingested, while intravenous antibiotics are used in more serious cases, such as deep-seated systemic infections. Antibiotics may also sometimes be administered topically, as with eye drops or ointments. In the last few years, three new classes of antibiotics have been brought into clinical use. This follows a 40-year hiatus in discovering new classes of antibiotic compounds. These new antibiotics are of the following three classes: cyclic lipopeptides (daptomycin), glycylcyclines (tigecycline), and oxazolidinones (linezolid). Tigecycline is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, while the two others are used for gram-positive infections. These developments show promise as a means to counteract the growing bacterial resistance to existing antibiotics. Penicillin (no entry as yet) Cephalosporins (no entry as yet) Tetracyclines (no entry as yet) Bacitracin (no entry as yet) Sulfonamide (no entry as yet) Nicotine (no entry as yet) Umeboshi plum (no entry as yet) Olive leaf extract (no entry as yet) Clindamycin (no entry as yet) Metronidazole (no entry as yet) Inh (no entry as yet) Mebendazole (no entry as yet) Permethrin (no entry as yet) Lindane (no entry as yet) Azithromycin (no entry as yet) Quinolones (no entry as yet) Penicillin (no entry as yet) Cephalosporins (no entry as yet) Tetracyclines (no entry as yet) Bacitracin (no entry as yet) Sulfonamide (no entry as yet) Nicotine (no entry as yet) Umeboshi plum (no entry as yet) --a triple antibiotic/antifungal Olive leaf extract (no entry as yet) --anti viral Clindamycin (no entry as yet) Metronidazole (no entry as yet) Inh (no entry as yet) Mebendazole (no entry as yet) Permethrin (no entry as yet) Lindane (no entry as yet) Azithromycin (no entry as yet) Quinolones (no entry as yet)