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Penicillin vs Cephalosporin - What's the difference?

penicillin | cephalosporin |

As nouns the difference between penicillin and cephalosporin

is that penicillin is any of a group of narrow-spectrum antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds or synthesized; they have a beta-lactam structure; most are active against gram-positive bacteria and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases while cephalosporin is any of a class of natural and synthetic antibiotics developed from genus: Cephalosporium fungi, having a cepham structure.

penicillin

English

Noun

  • (pharmaceutical drug) Any of a group of narrow-spectrum antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds or synthesized; they have a beta-lactam structure; most are active against gram-positive bacteria and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases.

    • Derived terms

    * benzathine penicillin * benzylpenicillin, penicillin G * penicillinic acid * phenoxymethylpenicillin, penicillin V * procaine penicillin

    External links

    * ("penicillin" on Wikipedia)

    cephalosporin

    English

    (wikipedia cephalosporin)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of a class of natural and synthetic antibiotics developed from fungi, having a cepham structure.
  • * 2001': Another important group of antibiotics, the '''cephalosporins , a class that includes more than twenty-five different drugs, are chemically distinct from the penicillins but act in the same way as cell wall inhibitors, as do vancomycin and bacitracin. — Leslie Iversen, ''Drugs: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2001, p. 63)

    • See also

    * cephamycin