antibiotics have no effect against viral infections and thus have no effect against the common cold. antibiotics are often prescribed even though antibiotic side effects cause overall harm. antibiotics are commonly prescribed because people expect doctors to prescribe them, and doctors want to help people. prescribing antibiotics also happens because it is difficult to exclude causes of infection that may be managed by antibiotics. there are no effective antiviral drugs for the common cold, even though some preliminary research has shown benefit.