Synthetic Antibiotics: Fighting Drug-Resistant Bacterial Infections

Bacterial infections are a leading cause of healthcare expense in the United States. For many patients, the complications associated with bacterial infection are easily resolved with the simple use of antibiotics therapy, provided the right antibiotic is prescribed.

For some patients, however, the complications associated with resistant bacterial infections can be slightly more of a challenge to resolve. Known as drug resistant bacterial infections, doctors often find there are a limited number of antibiotic choices available to patients who fall into this health risk category. However, even with the limited number of choices, treatment is important to prevent further spread of the drug resistant bacterial infection.

With advances in medical science, the development of synthetic antibiotics, such as Linezolid, have provided new avenues in the treatment of drug resistant bacterial infections. Often the synthetic antibiotics provide the only viable option to patients who are suffering from these types of bacterial infections and provide the prescription antibiotic needed to prevent widespread of resistant infections and a public health crisis.

So, what makes synthetic antibiotics different from others? Synthetic antibiotics provide therapeutic benefit to drug resistant bacterial infections by destroying the process of protein synthesis before it even begins. This is a crucial element in the replication of bacteria and, without it, bacterium can not survive. With the destruction of protein synthesis, synthetic antibiotics provide a key aspect of treatment of bacterial infections that other antibiotics can not provide.

As an oral medication, synthetic antibiotics present with some of the same complications as that found in traditional antibiotic therapy. Side effects most commonly associated with synthetic antibiotics include abdominal pain, diarrhea, cramping, headache, nausea and vomiting.