• Question: Why do antibotics have no effect on viruses?

    Asked by to Del, Catherine, John, Mo Rassul on 19 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Catherine Mansfield

      Catherine Mansfield answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Antibiotics kill bacteria usually by destroying their cell wall. Viruses are very different to bacteria and they do not have a cell wall, therefore antibiotics do not work against viruses.

    • Photo: John Foster

      John Foster answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Antibiotics also kill bacteria by interfering with the way they make proteins that build up their insides. Viruses hijack the human cells that they infect, and use them to make their proteins. Antibiotics wouldn’t have much use in stopping this.

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