Key information about antibiotics (a patient’s guide)

If you do not stop the reproduction of some bacteria in the body (or on the skin), they cause illnesses. You probably know what to do: use antibacterial agents.

Antibiotics are natural or synthetic substances that attack bacterial cells and throw a fatal punch over them.

In this review, we will not name all the known antibiotics. A huge number of those were discovered over the past 100 years. We enlist just some of them:

• Amoxicillin
• Ampicillin
• Ceftriaxone
• Cephalexin
• Ciprofloxacin
• Doxycycline
• Linezolid
• Vancomycin

All antibiotics are divided into classes, subclasses and families. They differ in the spectrum of activity, indications and methods of use.

In other words, one particular antibiotic can effectively fight one type of bacteria, and not work against other types of bacteria.

It should be noted that there are broad-spectrum antibiotics that are effective against many types of microorganisms. As a rule, medications of this type are used when the class of pathogenic microorganism is not detected.

How to use?

People usually take antibiotics orally. If the bacterial infection is severe or difficult to treat, solutions for injections are often prescribed. Ointments, gels, creams or shampoos are effective in treating skin infections.

The most important thing you should know about using antibiotics:

• The fight against bacteria must be continuous.
• Skipping one or more doses of antibiotics slows the treatment.
• The course of treatment should be completed until the end, even if the symptoms of the disease have disappeared.

In fact, most people know how to use antibiotics. After all, they or their relatives did it many times. What many people are really not aware of – is the fact that they can save significantly, when buying antibiotics.

The fact is that the same medicine can be produced by different companies. Accordingly, the antibiotic price will differ.

Commonly known antibiotics are sold under brand names, and their price is usually high. Cheap antibiotics are sold under international non-proprietary names (such as those in the list at the beginning of the review).