What are antibiotis?
In modern usage, an antibiotic is a chemotherapeutic agent with activity against microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi or protozoa.

Are the helping us or are they hurting us? Discuss whether you think they are good or bad and why.

I will save my opinion for later, I just want to know what you guys think about them.

I'd much rather live in the medical era with antbiotics than without. So I'd say they are helping us.

This post was edited by LouisLeGros on Dec 11 2008 02:31am

They're a double-edged sword. If antibiotics are taken improperly, shared, or anything of that nature we end up getting antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. For example, take MRSA.

However, I do think this "perpetual sanitized" lifestyle will do us harm. The hand sanitizers that people carry around are used far too often and eventually pathogens will gain resistances to these too. Same for children in houses where parents disinfect every single thing; kids need to get healthily sick (oxymoron, I know) because otherwise they will gain no immune system.

I'm going to take a big leap from where this topic was likely intended to go and say that I despise the entirety of the medical field because of how much it pushes against natural selection.
Saving lives is great and all, but we've advanced our medical sciences to the point where a situation based on "the strongest survive" has become hard to find.
I mean, sure millions upon millions of people die every year, but without medicine, that number would be vastly larger.
Overpopulation wouldn't exist, famine would be much harder to come by, drought, epidemics, wars, etc. would all be reduced.
I dunno, I feel like an asshole for thinking this way, partly because of the lack of compassion for others and partly because of how idealistically impossible it would be to reverse so much.

And just in case anyone asks, I would most certainly seek medical attention if I needed it. Hypocrisy runs rampant!

war will always exist no matter what the population is

Never said it would disappear, only meant that it would have far less devastating impacts.
Actually, now that I think about it, a war without medicine would probably be more devastating to a population because casualty rates would soar.
Oh well, positives outweigh the negatives.

well at least the average life span with medicine > average life span without medicine

Yeah, but more people living longer means larger civilizations which leads to a higher impact on the earth, including using up the earth's resources faster, destroying the habitats of other species, and overall trashing the planet.
Less people means sustainability for much longer as well as a more manageable impact.
This is all speculation, though. I might even go so far as to say they're complete guesses with no relevant information to back any of it up lol.
Oh, and I hope you'll forgive the hippie talk. It isn't normally like me, but seeing how many problems that have risen from depleting the earth of its resources, this seemed like a good enough rebuttal.

thats ez we just invent more high-tech equipment and migrate to the moon, or mars

i dont know if keeping a constant population is a good idea

This post was edited by Potassium_LLD on Dec 11 2008 10:24am

Thankfully I just passed my University level Microbiology course and I'd love to entertain your questions! An antibiotic is simply a chemical produced by another organism to destroy or harm

another microorganism. There are various mechanisms which antibiotics use from cell wall disruption (Penicillin and Beta Lactam, etc), and protein synthesis disruption. These exact methods

are very well known and produce very effective bactericidal, anti-fungal, anti-protozoan, and in some cases anti-viral. Antibiotics when used carelessly cause more harm than good since

bacteria exchange r-Factors which are basically RNA squences bundled in cricles called Plasmids which are transferred by any form of contact between bacteria. This means that lets say that

a Staphylococcus Aureus bacterium acquires antibiotic resistance to peniciillin through inconsistent patient dosage. If that particular bacteria reproduces or even comes in contact with

another bacteria of the same kind it will transfer its plasmid with the antibiotic resistance to the next bacteria, and so on and so on. If there is controlled use and very stringent standards

to private patient use of antibiotics then I'm sure the world of pathogenic microorganisms would be under a very reliable control system since these antibiotic chemicals have been used to

destroy bacteria for millions of years by their host producers. Within 10 years almost all clinical cases of Staphylococcal infection involve a resistant strain towards penicillin. This is very very

critical as MRSA, short for methylcillin RESISTANT Staphylococcus Aureus made its headline in the news as one of the most pestering and deadly bacteria. In short, antibiotics are magic

bullets, they cannot be used carelessly as they will cause major issues for humankind. If all MRSA strains continue to evolve into more resistant bacteria we could end up with a very serious

strain of bacteria which already cause many headaches in hospitals VRSA is Vancomcyn RESISTANT Staphylococcus Aureus, which is just a monster bug that is resistant to well, almost

everything. Whats next? Antibiotic resistant Diptheria, Tuberculosis, Tetanus, Streptococcal infections, Anthrax, Typhoid, Bubonic/Pneumonic Plague, the list of Deadly possibly resistant

bacteria goes on and on! Finally, proper administration/dosage and education = less headaches!

Source:
Marjorie Kelly Cowan, Kathleen Park Talaro. Microbiology: A Systems Approach “Antimicrobial Agents” ch. 12. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009.

This post was edited by Jazz_Thing on Dec 11 2008 10:30am