Week 2; Introduction to antimicrobial resistance

Definitions

Chemotherapy

The treatment of disease by the use of chemical substances, especially the treatment of cancer by cytotoxic and other drugs.

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cells in your body. Chemotherapy is most often used to treat cancer, since cancer cells grow and multiply much more quickly than most cells in the body.

Antibiotics are medicines that help stop infections caused by bacteria. They do this by killing the bacteria or by keeping them from copying themselves or reproducing. The word antibiotic means “against life.” Any drug that kills germs in your body is technically an antibiotic

An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals are used against fungi.