Antibiotics An antibiotic, is defined to be a drug produced by certain microbes. Most doctors use antibiotics to help fight the germs in a patient. Antibiotics are obtained from plants, fungi, air, water, soil, just about anything on earth. Antibiotics kill and attack the germ or virus in the body, but do not hurt the human cells, ordinarily. The antibiotics are used to treat many various types of diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, and several kinds of infections. People have been using antibiotics for more than 2,500 years. They used molds to help cure some skin infections and rashes. It was in the late 1800's that the real study of medicine began. Louis Pasteur