How have antibiotics improved health?

Answer 1

Vaccines are the preventative measure. By inserting dead or weakened pathogens, or an artificial agent that resembles it, the immune system can learn to recognize it and destroy it before a real infection can occur. This reduces the number of carriers in a population. Antibiotics are used against bacterial infections already underway, and either kill or inhibit the growth of infections. Antibiotics must be taken as long as the doctor orders or lingering bacteria can develop a resistance to the drug.

Answer 2

They can treat bacterial infections (antibiotics), prevent infections by viruses (viral vaccines) and prevent infections from a limited number of bacteria (bacterial vaccines).

You can think of it this way: Antibiotics are for treatment of bacterial infections and vaccinesare for prevention of some Infectious Diseases.

More information:

Antibiotics are a type of drug used against bacteria, but they are not effective for viral infections (like a cold or flu). Bacteria and viruses are two different types of microorganisms (germs). Antibiotics kill bacteria that cause infectious disease, like Strep throat and Staph infection in a cut on your skin. They are given to treat a bacterial infection that has already started.

[The similar types of drugs, used to treat a viral infection that has already started, are called anti-viral drugs (instead of antibiotics).]

Vaccines are used in animals and humans to prevent them from getting infectious diseases. For examples: polio, small pox, and hepatitis, which are viral infections, can be prevented by vaccines made specifically to do that. There are currently only a few vaccines for use to prevent specific bacterialinfections. More often vaccines are made for prevention of viral infections.

Vaccines are used to inoculate you with the specific antigen for which they are made. Antigens are the organisms or substances that can make you ill, like viruses, cat dander (if allergic), and bacteria. This inoculation is also called a vaccination. That just means to get the antigen in your body by some clinical method, such as flu shots and nasal sprays. The antigens are introduced in small quantities that have been processed to be inactive or weak, so they can cause the immune reaction needed for protection, but not give you the infection or illness.

Vaccinations force your body to create special cells that can attack that specific antigen in the vaccine. These special cells are called antibodies and they will remain part of your immune system after you are inoculated and have achieved immunity from the vaccination. This protects you from the antigen in the future. If the same antigen is identified by your immune system later, the antibody cells, which were made in reaction to the vaccination, and which were designed to protect you from that antigen, can be produced quickly and sent out in your blood stream to protect you from getting sick.

Answer 3

How have vaccinations and antibiotics helped people around the world? (give examples)