are antibiotics effective against viruses
Viruses are even smaller than bacteria and require living hosts — such as people, plants or animals — to multiply. Otherwise, they can't survive. When a virus enters your body, it invades some of your cells and takes over the cell machinery, redirecting it to produce the virus. Diseases caused by viruses include: 1  Chickenpox. 2  AIDS. Quinolones. Quinolones include antibiotics like ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, which are used to treat infections like bronchitis and pneumonia. When bacteria begin to copy their DNA, quinolones cause the strands to break and then prevent the breaks from being repaired. As you might think, bacterial infections are caused by bacteria, and viral infections are caused by viruses. Perhaps the most important distinction between bacteria and viruses is that antibiotic drugs usually kill bacteria, but they aren't effective against viruses. Most bacteria cause no harm to people, but there are exceptions. Infections caused by bacteria include: 1  Strep throat. 2  Tuberculosis. 3  Urinary tract infections. No! Before you take an antibiotic medicine for your cold, read this health topic. Antibiotics do not cure viruses, and the common cold is a virus. Children have special needs when you’re giving them medication. Find the latest safety information about giving your child cold medicine. When people take antibiotics when they don't have to, over time, the medicine becomes less effective. Someday you'll really need one because you've got an illness caused by a bacteria, but it won't work. The reason has to do with the bacteria themselves. They can be sneaky. The antibiotic penicillin works by keeping a bacterium from building a cell wall. Bacteria and human cells also differ in the structure of their cell membranes and the machinery they use to build proteins or copy DNA. Some antibiotics dissolve the membrane of just bacterial cells. Others affect protein-building or DNA-copying machinery that is specific to bacteria. Here's the plain truth: Colds are caused by viruses, and no antibiotic in the world can fight one. They only treat an infection that's brought on by another small living thing -- bacteria. It might not seem like you're doing any harm if you take a medicine even though it doesn't treat your cold, but it can. When they're used the right way, antibiotics can save lives. For example, they can treat bronchitis, pneumonia, strep throat, ear infection, and pinkeye -- as long as they're caused by bacteria. Sometimes, you get infected with a bacteria after you've got a cold. Antibiotics kill bacteria, not archaea, fungi, or protists. The discovery of the antibiotic penicillin in the 1920s made a big impact on human history. Not only did it lead to a cure for bacterial infections that were once deadly, but it also led a big interest in finding new antibiotics.
No