Broad-spectrum antibiotic their greater potential to disrupt a larger variety of normal human flora. After continued exposure to an antibiotic, bacteria may develop changes in their structure or function that make them resistant to the antibiotic. These resistant organisms will live, while the susceptible organisms will die, leaving the population of bacteria entirely resistant to a given antibiotics. For example, after the discovery of penicillin and its subsequent use to treat bacterial infections, bacteria were found to have begun producing an enzyme, penicillinase, which rendered the penicillin molecule inactive. In response to this newly-acquired resistance, newer penicillins were produced that could not
Broad-spectrum antibiotic Broad-spectrum antibiotic The term broad-spectrum antibiotic can refer to an antibiotic that acts on the two major bacterial groups, gram-positive and gram-negative, or any antibiotic that acts against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. These medications are used when a bacterial infection is suspected but the group of bacteria is unknown (also called empiric therapy) or when infection with multiple groups of bacteria is suspected. This is in contrast to a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, which is effective against only a specific group of bacteria. Although powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics pose specific risks, particularly the disruption of native, normal bacteria and the development