What is Antibiotics?
[[File:ΦM12 Plaques in Sinorhizobium meliloti.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Bacteria growing on an [[agar]] plate.]] [[File:Antibiotic sensitivity and resistance.jpg|thumb|right| 250px|Antibiotic resistance tests: Bacteria are streaked on the dish on which antibiotic impregnated white disks are placed. Bacteria in the culture on the left are susceptible to the antibiotic in each disk, as shown by the dark, clear rings where bacteria have not grown. Those on the right are fully susceptible to only three of the seven antibiotics tested.<ref>[http://www.microbelibrary.org/component/resource/laboratory-test/3189-kirby-bauer-disk-diffusion-susceptibility-test-protocol Kirby-Bauer Disk Diffusion Susceptibility Test Protocol] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607231115/http://www.microbelibrary.org/component/resource/laboratory-test/3189-kirby-bauer-disk-diffusion-susceptibility-test-protocol |date=2016-06-07 }}, Jan Hudzicki, ASM</ref>]] {{Distinguish|antibody}} An '''antibiotic''' (or '''antibacterial''') is a chemical compound that [[kill]]s [[bacteria]] or slows their [[growth]]. They are used as [[medicine]] to treat and [[:wikt:cure|cure]] [[disease]]s caused by bacteria. The first antibiotic discovered was [[Penicillin]], a natural antibiotic produced by a [[fungus]]. Production of antibiotics first began in 1939, and in the modern day, they are made by [[chemical synthesis]]. Antibiotics can not be used to treat [[virus]]es. [[Maclyn McCarty]] explained what it was like before antibiotics:<ref>McCarty M. 1985. ''The transforming principle: discovering that genes are made of DNA''. New York: W.W. Norton, p40. {{ISBN|0-393-30450-7}}</ref> {{Blockquote|text=There are a number of infections from which no-one had [ever] recovered before the discovery of effective anti-bacterial agents.}} ==History== Antibiotics can be the most effective way of treating bacterial infections. A clue to this might been found in [[Pasteur]]'s work. He had a culture of [[anthrax]] germs that were left exposed to air. They dev