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dave12 dave12
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11 years ago
I am taking Penicillin for an infection i have. How does Penicillin Find the bacteria?
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wrote...
#1
11 years ago
Your body absorbs the antibiotic which travels throughout your system. As long as you take a sufficient amount, and as long as you are taking the right one, the bacteria will be destroyed.
wrote...
#2
11 years ago
Well, penicillin isn't exactly a living creature...so, it doesn't "find" bacteria; rather, this antibiotic gets absorbed into the bloodstream and readily flows throughout your vessels.  This antibiotic will then travel to all places throughout the body and destroy any bacteria that come into contact with it.  But we say "destroy" here loosely.  It isn't that the antibiotic actually "eats up" the bacteria; rather, it produces an environment in which the bacteria cannot thrive in...thus killing them off.
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#3
11 years ago
The antibiotic is formulated to be soluble in the body fluids and is distributed throughout the body's tissues and extracellular fluids.  The antibiotic, penicillin, acts by blocking the synthesis of bacterial cells walls of some species of bacteria.  Without the strong cell wall to protect the bacterial cells, water from the tissues moves into the bacterial cell causing it to burst open.  White blood cells then clean up the bacterial debris and stimulate the production of antibodies.
wrote...
#4
11 years ago
It doesn't. It just float around until it degrades. The hope is that a penicillin molecule will bump into bacteria randomly. That's why you take large amounts of it - and take it for at least a week.

Moreover, it doesn't kill only the invading bacteria, the antibiotic kills also the good bacteria - your intestinal microflora, which is essential to help you digest your food. That's why it is a good idea to eat live-culture yogurt during and for at least a week after you finish the antibiotic.
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