ANTIBIOTICS - A MINI REVIEW

ABSTRACT

Antibiotics (Greek anti, “against”, bios “life”) are chemical compounds used to kill or inhibit the growth of infectious organisms. The
discovery of antibiotics in the twentieth century is a greatest boon to the mankind. Initially most of the antibiotics were discovered from natural sources mainly from Actinomycetes and few were synthesized taking lead from natural sources. However due to misuse and abuse of antibiotics, the microorganisms have developed resistance to the currently available antibiotics In this article we present the history, discovery of antibiotics from natural sources, synthetic antibiotics and resistance by microorganisms to the currently available antibiotics, strategies to overcome the resistance to antibiotics.

KEYWORDS: Antibiotic resistance, Antibiotics, Actinomycetes and ß -Lactam.