Question

Which among the following is not an antibiotic?
A. Citric acid
B. Streptomycin
C. Cephalosporin
D. Griseofulvin

Answer 1

Hint: Antibiotics are the chemicals which are released from the microbes which are used to kill or inhibit the division of other harmful diseases causing microbes. Antibiotics help us fight the bacterial infections. The word antibiotic itself means “against life”. These therefore kill the microbes.

Complete answer:
To know the correct answer to the question we must be well aware of the antibiotics and their various types.
There are various antibiotics available in the market. Few of them are discussed below.

Streptomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic which is given when the patient is suffering from bacterial infections in different parts of their body.
This antibiotic is obtained from an actinomycete Streptomyces griseus which is found in the soil.

Cephalosporin is another antibiotic which is obtained from fungus cephalosporium. They are used as treatment against prophylaxis. This antibiotic is usually taken by patients who are allergic to penicillin. It is given to patients who have skin infections.
Griseofulvin is an antifungal medicine which is used to treat athlete foot ringworm, infection of scalp and the toenail and foot nail. It is obtained from the soil fungus Penicillium griseofulvum.
Citric acid is very commonly known as vitamin C. It is a weak organic acid which is found in oranges, lemons etc. It is used as an acidifying and chelating agent. It is an acid and not an antibiotic.

Since, now we are well aware of the antibiotics, therefore the correct answer to the question is citric acid.

Note: here it must be noted that these have several side-effects too therefore antibiotics must be taken only when prescribed by a doctor.
Further citric acid as we all know is a weak organic acid. It is also an intermediate product formed in the citric acid cycle which is present in our body.