Which of the following best describes the role of antibiotics with reference to human beings?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Pro-life
The word antibiotic comes from ‘anti’ (against) and ‘bio’ (life), so it literally means ‘against life’. That meaning holds for the disease-causing organisms that antibiotics kill or whose growth they retard. For human beings, whose lives they save, the role is the opposite.
Option (1) Against life — Incorrect. ‘Against life’ is the meaning of the word, and it applies to the disease-causing organisms. It does not describe what antibiotics do for human beings.
Option (2) Pro-life — Correct. With reference to human beings, antibiotics are ‘pro life’. They cure deadly infections such as plague, whooping cough and diphtheria, and so protect human life.
Option (3) Neutral to life — Incorrect. Antibiotics are not neutral for us. They have greatly improved our capacity to treat deadly diseases.
Option (4) Harmful to life — Incorrect. Antibiotics act against disease-causing microbes, not against human life. Calling them harmful to life describes their effect on pathogens, not on humans.
NCERT Extract:
Antibiotics – “Antibiotics produced by microbes are regarded as one of the most significant discoveries of the twentieth century and have greatly contributed towards the welfare of the human society. Anti is a Greek word that means ‘against’, and bio means ‘life’, together they mean ‘against life’ (in the context of disease causing organisms); whereas with reference to human beings, they are ‘pro life’ and not against.”