It
is the
tension 
between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning
and unexpected
findings of science. —Carl Sagan
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Microorganisms – organisms that are too
small to be seen clearly with the naked eye, often grow on and within other organisms.
This is known as microbial colonization, and colonization by some microorganisms
can lead to disease, disability, and death. Thus, the control or destruction of
microorganisms residing within the bodies of humans
and other animals is of great importance. However, the increasing number and
variety of drug-resistant pathogenic (disease-producing) microbes is a
serious and increasing public health problem. Modern medicine is dependent on chemotherapeutic agents –
chemical agents that are used to treat diseases by destroying pathogenic
microorganisms or inhibiting their growth.[i]
Antimicrobial
agents are intended to treat diseases caused by pathogenic microbes by making an
attack on certain structures that are vital to the microbe's functioning, which
are different from the host so that the host itself may not be severely damaged
by the agent. This is not always the case, however, and the agent may inflict
undesirable side effects to the host.[ii]
(Due to this fact, the antimicrobial agents are applied at concentrations low
enough to avoid significant damage to the host). Most of these agents are
antibiotics – microbial products or their derivatives that can kill targeted
(pathogenic) microorganisms or inhibit their growth[iii].
Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin in 1928. After the
first use of antibiotics in the 1940s, illnesses and deaths from infectious
diseases were drastically reduced. [iv]
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Enhancement of Antibiotic Action with an Application of
Ultrasound 29/04/2007 |
