Why can antibiotics not be used to treat viruses?

Why can antibiotics not be used to treat viruses?

• A. Because the live and reproduce inside our cells, so you would have to destroy the host cell first.
• B. Antibiotics only work on fungi.
• C. Viruses are killed by sunlight.
• D. Antibiotics cause viruses to mutate.

Answer: (D)

Antibiotics cannot treat viruses because they target bacterial-specific features that viruses don’t have. Most antibiotics disrupt things like bacterial cell wall synthesis or bacterial ribosomes, which are essential to bacteria but absent in viruses. Viruses rely on our own cells to replicate, using host cell machinery, so there’s nothing for the antibiotic to attack without harming the host. The idea that antibiotics cause viruses to mutate isn’t how antibiotics work; viruses mutate during their own replication, and antibiotics don’t induce this in a way that would treat or affect a viral infection. That’s why we use antiviral drugs that target viral life-cycle steps or vaccines to prevent infection.

Antibiotics cannot treat viruses because they target bacterial-specific features that viruses don’t have. Most antibiotics disrupt things like bacterial cell wall synthesis or bacterial ribosomes, which are essential to bacteria but absent in viruses. Viruses rely on our own cells to replicate, using host cell machinery, so there’s nothing for the antibiotic to attack without harming the host. The idea that antibiotics cause viruses to mutate isn’t how antibiotics work; viruses mutate during their own replication, and antibiotics don’t induce this in a way that would treat or affect a viral infection. That’s why we use antiviral drugs that target viral life-cycle steps or vaccines to prevent infection.