Do antibiotics work with viruses? Why or why not?

Question

Thank you very much. If you answer you will be helping me pass my year 12 exam =) cheers

Answer 1

Antibiotics do not work with viruses. Viruses, such as the common cold, are incurable due to the fact that no two strains are alike, meaning there are a lot of types of bacteria associated with it. This applies to all viruses. Antibiotics cannot treat viruses, because antibiotics can only treat one specific type of bacteria. Good luck on your exam, by the way ;)

Answer 2

No they dont.

Because a virus does not have a cell. It lives and reproduces in other cells, most of the time destroying them while doing so.

On the other hand, bacteria are single-celled organisms that produce more single-celled bacteria.

You can create a medicine to kill a single-celled organism that is living inside your body, and that is what antibiotics do, but you cant create a medicine that kills your own body cells, which is where the virus lies.

Answer 3

Viruses are dead. Antibiotics kill bacteria which is live. Can't kill whats not living.

Answer 4

Concur with Sean, antivirals e.g. Interferon-alpha in conjunction with Ribavirin are effective in the treatment of a significant number of patients afflicted with Hepatitis C.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abst...

Answer 5

I depends on your definition of "antibiotic."

Usually when people refer to antibiotics they mean the medicines intended to treat bacterial illnesses, like penicillin or erythromycin. These medications do not work against viruses.

However, there are many drug which do affect certain viruses, like the AIDS virus, which are properly called "antibiotics."

Generally the "antibiotics don't work against viruses" argument is used for people with cold and flu (which are caused by viruses) symptoms who think an antibiotic like penicillin will help them get better faster.