Question

How do antibiotics work to cure bacterial infections? Explain your answer.
I am really tired and can't think straight right now so I would really appreciate any help.

Answer 1

Most antibiotics interfere with the formation of the bacterial cell wall during replication. That is the short answer.

Answer 2

@rickkawczynski is quite right: the general answer is that all antibiotics interfere with some process necessary for bacterial survival but which humans (or whatever organism the antibacterial is designed to work on) does not depend.

For those bacteria with cell walls, the classic and very good example is inhibition of cell wall formation through inhibition of peptidoglycan (necessary cell wall component) synthesis and cross linking. Plainly doesn't work for bacteria without cell walls though.

Answer 3

if you make a culture in a petri, with fungus, and bacteries, you can see that the bacteries cannot grow into a circle around where the fungus is growing.

Answer 4

thank you rickkawczynski. i really appreciate it. it made sense to me and helped me remember the lesson i did.