Modern Antibiotics in Ancient Egyptian Civilization?

Gillian Belk’s blog The Secrets of Ancient Beer talks about Egyptians who lived over 2000 years ago had tetracycline present in their bones. How did they discover and administer an antibiotic that was not discovered until the early 1950s?

 Pharm 101: Doxycycline

Readily binds to calcium in newly formed bone or teeth in young children (and fetus)...

A systematic review of the impacts of oral tetracycline class antibiotics on antimicrobial resistance in normal human flora

Although the effects are modest and transient, limited data from small prospective studies may suggest that oral tetracyclines for 2–18 weeks increase resistance in subgingival, gastrointestinal and upper respiratory tract flora.

Oral Tetracyclines and Acne: A Systematic Review...

Oral tetracyclines demonstrate bacteriostatic (inhibiting bacterial growth) effects against C. acnes; however, some tetracyclines also exhibit bacteriostatic effects on beneficial commensal organisms of the gut.

Tetracycline - Molecule of the Month...

Lloyd H. Conover invented the antibiotic tetracycline, which became the most prescribed broad spectrum antibiotic in the United States within three years and remains the drug of choice for a number of serious bacterial infections.

Tetracycline Antibiotics and Resistance

Tetracycline antibiotics are well known for their broad spectrum of activity, spanning a wide range of Gram-positive and -negative bacteria, spirochetes, obligate intracellular bacteria, as well as protozoan parasites. The first tetracyclines were natural products derived from the fermentations of actinomycetes.

Tetracycline Antibiotics: Mode of Action, Applications, Molecular Biology, and Epidemiology of Bacterial Resistance

Tetracyclines were discovered in the 1940s and exhibited activity against a wide range of microorganisms including gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, chlamydiae, mycoplasmas, rickettsiae, and protozoan parasites. They are inexpensive antibiotics, which have been used extensively in the prophlylaxis and therapy of human and animal infections and also at subtherapeutic levels in animal feed as growth promoters

Tetracycline in the Environment: A New Solution

Pharmaceuticals save human and animal lives, but when they end up in our waterways, they present a dangerous form of pollution. The popular antibiotic tetracycline, for example, is found in wastewater in heavily populated and livestock-rich regions. In nature, the drug promotes antibiotic resistance in disease-causing organisms and inhibits the growth of some terrestrial and aquatic species.

Tetracyclines: Insights and Updates of their Use in Human and Animal Pathology and their Potential Toxicity

Tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) have been widely employed to treat bacterial infections and other pathologic conditions in humans and pets. Although most of TCs have been almost ruled out from the human clinical practice they are still used as growth promoters and to treat promiscuity and overcrowding pathologies in the intensive animal farming. As a consequence, TCs are commonly found in all ecological compartments...

The history of the tetracyclines

Discovered as natural products from actinomycetes soil bacteria, the tetracyclines were first reported in the scientific literature in 1948. They were noted for their broad spectrum antibacterial activity and were commercialized with clinical success beginning in the late 1940s to the early 1950s.