Biotics

Biotics describe living or once living components of a community; for example organisms, such as animals and plants. Biotic may refer to:

• Life, the condition of living organisms
• Material, which is derived from living organisms.
• Components in ecology

A biotic factor is a living thing that has an impact on another population of living things or on the environment. Abiotic factors do the same thing, but they are non-living. Together, biotic and abiotic factors make up an ecosystem.

Abiotic factors are the non-living parts of the environment that can often have a major influence on living organisms. Abiotic factors include water, sunlight, oxygen, soil and temperature. This includes both animals that consume other organisms within their ecosystem, and the organism that is being consumed. Biotic factors also include human influence, pathogens, and disease outbreaks. Each biotic factor needs the proper amount of energy and nutrition to function day to day.

Biotechnology is the branch of applied science that utilizes living organisms and their derivatives in order to produce products and processes. The wide concept of "biotech" or "biotechnology" encompasses a wide range of procedures for modifying living organisms.

Biotechnology (biotech) companies derive their products from the extraction or manipulation of living organisms, and comprise an important industry sector in the economy.

An antibiotic is a substance used to kill bacteria. Since the prefix anti- means fighting, opposing, or killing, and bios is the Greek word for "life," antibiotic literally means life-killing. But doctors prescribes them primarily to kill the bacteria responsible for infections in the body.

Antibiotics are medicines that treat infections by killing bacteria. They don't work on viruses, like the flu. Although there are well over 100 antibiotics, the majority come from only a few types of drugs. These are the main classes of antibiotics.

• Penicillins such as penicillin and amoxicillin
• Cephalosporins such as cephalexin (Keflex)
• Macrolides such as erythromycin (E-Mycin), clarithromycin (Biaxin), and azithromycin (Zithromax)
• Fluoroquinolones such as ciprofolxacin (Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), and ofloxacin (Floxin)
• Sulfonamides such as co-trimoxazole (Bactrim) and trimethoprim (Proloprim)
• Tetracyclines such as tetracycline (Sumycin, Panmycin) and doxycycline (Vibramycin)
• Aminoglycosides such as gentamicin (Garamycin) and tobramycin (Tobrex)

Most antibiotics have two names, the trade or brand name, created by the drug company that manufactures the drug, and a generic name, based on the antibiotic's chemical structure or chemical class.

An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of such infections. They may either kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria.

Antibiotics can hurt your health If you don't have an Infection. Study finds antibiotics may do more harm than good if you're not actually sick. Antibiotics have long been scrutinized for their misuse, overuse, and harsh side effects. If taken incorrectly, researchers believe antibiotics can do more harm than good.

A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Most viruses have two basic geometric shapes RNA or DNA as their genetic material. The nucleic acid may be single- or double-stranded. The most complex can encode 100 – 200 proteins.

Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Unlike most antibiotics, antiviral drugs do not destroy their target pathogen; instead they inhibit their development.

Antiviral drugs are one class of antimicrobials, a larger group which also includes antibiotic (also termed antibacterial), antifungal and antiparasitic drugs, or antiviral drugs based on monoclonal antibodies. Most antivirals are considered relatively harmless to the host, and therefore can be used to treat infections.

They should be distinguished from viricides, which are not medication but deactivate or destroy virus particles, either inside or outside the body. Natural viricides are produced by some plants such as eucalyptus and Australian tea trees.

Designing safe and effective antiviral drugs is difficult because viruses use the host's cells to replicate. The general idea behind modern antiviral drug design is to identify viral proteins, or parts of proteins, that can be disabled. These "targets" should generally be as unlike any proteins or parts of proteins in humans as possible, to reduce the likelihood of side effects.

Guidelines regarding viral diagnoses and treatments change frequently and limit quality care. Even when physicians diagnose older patients with influenza, use of antiviral treatment can be low. The gap made it difficult to create plans and policies for their use and future availabilities, causing delays in treatment.

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, destroy it, and to further recognize and destroy any of the microorganisms associated with that agent that it may encounter in the future. Vaccines can be prophylactic (to prevent or ameliorate the effects of a future infection by a natural or "wild" pathogen), or therapeutic (to fight a disease that has already occurred, such as cancer)

While some western, traditional or home remedies may provide comfort and alleviate symptoms of mild COVID-19, there are no medicines that have been shown to prevent or cure the disease.

Some scientists fear that an effective Coronavirus vaccine may prove impossible to produce. The UK's Chief Medical Officer, Christopher Whitty, told a Parliamentary committee on Friday that there was "concerning" evidence suggesting that it may not be possible to stimulate immunity to the virus.

He said evidence from other forms of Coronavirus also suggests that immunity quickly wanes, and that no vaccine has ever been approved for use against previous forms of Coronavirus.

According to David Nabarro, professor of global health at Imperial College, the world may have to learn to live with the "constant threat" of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend self-medication with any medicines, including antibiotics, as a prevention or cure for COVID-19. However, there are several ongoing clinical trials of both western and traditional medicines. WHO is coordinating efforts to develop vaccines and medicines to prevent and treat COVID-19 and will continue to provide updated information as soon as research results become available…

Food for thought!