Which bacteria is harder to kill, Gram positive or negative??

gram positive

Which bacteria is harder to kill, Gram positive or negative??
That's a difficult question. Gram positive leaps to mind because they have such a thick cell wall. Also Gram positive bacteria tend to be more likely to be spore-formers, and bacterial endospores are notoriously difficult to kill. However, most antibiotics in the beta-lactam family, which are the "gold standard" of antibiotic therapy affect the peptidoglycan cell wall. Since Gram negative bacteria have far, far less peptidoglycan in their cell walls, they are less susceptible. I hope this helps you, though I'm not sure how clear I've been.





PS...I noticed that you capitalized Gram. Kudos to you, most people forget to do that.
Reply:negative ones from what I thought!


I thought that the gram negs are the nasties in general ( ie most pathogenic ones tend to be gram negs) and I thought it was the neg that had the extra layer on the cell wall etc.





Also from what I remember at uni, its often these negs that end up having to have the really strong antibiotics on them eg resistant ones ( again this would be due to the fact they are more likely to be pathogenic)...but I THINK there is something else to do with the fact that they can also be anaeobic, which is often a bad thing for bacteria to be ( they can become systemic very quickly and really get into organ systems)
Reply:Gram negative. Gram positive bacteria have thick peptidoglycan walls. Gram negative bacteria do not have thick peptidoglycan; they have an LPS layer instead. Gram negative bacteria usually have a certain level of resistance to antibiotics such as penicillin.