[3] Other side effects include poor tooth development if used by children less than eight years of age, kidney problems, and sunburning easily.

Originally, they possessed some level of bacteriostatic activity against almost all medically relevant aerobic and anaerobic bacterial genera, both Gram-positive and Gram-negative, with a few exceptions, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus spp., which display intrinsic resistance.

However, acquired (as opposed to inherent) resistance has proliferated in many pathogenic organisms and greatly eroded the formerly vast versatility of this group of antibiotics.

Resistance amongst Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Neisseria gonorrhoeae, anaerobes, members of the Enterobacteriaceae, and several other previously sensitive organisms is now quite common.

[11][12] The following list presents MIC susceptibility data for some medically significant microorganisms: The tetracyclines also have activity against certain eukaryotic parasites, including those responsible for diseases such as dysentery caused by an amoeba, malaria (a plasmodium), and balantidiasis (a ciliate).

[23] According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cases of Stevens–Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, and erythema multiforme associated with doxycycline use have been reported, but a causative role has not been established.

[27] Bacteria usually acquire resistance to tetracycline from horizontal transfer of a gene that either encodes an efflux pump or a ribosomal protection protein.

[29] The tetracyclines, a large family of antibiotics, were discovered by Benjamin Minge Duggar in 1948 as natural products, and first prescribed in 1948.

[30] Benjamin Duggar, working under Yellapragada Subbarow at Lederle Laboratories, discovered the first tetracycline antibiotic, chlortetracycline (Aureomycin), in 1945.

[32] After the discovery of the structure, researchers at Pfizer began chemically modifying aureomycin by treating it with hydrogen in the presence of a palladized carbon catalyst.

[33] Tetracycline displayed higher potency, better solubility, and more favorable pharmacology than the other antibiotics in its class, leading to its FDA approval in 1954.

[citation needed] Due to the drug's association with fighting infections, it serves as the main "commodity" in the science fiction series Aftermath, with the search for tetracycline becoming a major preoccupation in later episodes.

In the game, players may find the antibiotic to treat the common cold, influenza, cholera and infected wounds, but does not portray any side effects associated with tetracycline.