[Byte1]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Typical amateur/non-professional mistake----

Big difference between the element SULPHUR used in gunpowder among other things, and SULFA antibiotics. HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!

But just for a short teaching moment, from the NIH-------

"Researchers have finally found out how sulfa drugs—the first class of antibiotics ever discovered—work at the molecular level. The finding offers insights into designing more robust antibiotic therapies.

Sulfa antibiotics were first used in the 1930s, and they revolutionized medicine. After a few years, bacteria started to develop resistance to the drugs, and eventually penicillin replaced them as a first-line treatment. While antibiotic resistance remains a problem for this class of antibiotics, sulfa drugs are still commonly used to treat a variety of bacterial infections.

Sulfa drugs work by binding and inhibiting a specific enzyme called dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS). This enzyme is critical for the synthesis of folate, an essential nutrient. Mammals get folate from their diet, but bacteria must synthesize this vitamin. Folate synthesis requires a chemical reaction between 2 molecules, DHPP and PABA, that is catalyzed by DHPS.

Bacteria resistant to sulfa drugs often have mutations in the DHPS enzyme. These mutations occur on 2 floppy loops that sit near the enzyme's active site. Previous research had described most of the structure of DHPS, but the structure of the floppy, highly conserved loops remained elusive. Moreover, researchers didn't know how the chemical reaction occurs between DHPP and PABA."

I'm not an expert or a medical professional such as you, but I think that sulfur is or has been used for dermatological purposes and does work as sort of an antibiotic, if I am not mistaken. I was "told" that folks that are allergic to sulfa drugs are probably not allergic to sulfur. But, I think we have strayed off the subject..