why are antibiotics not effective for viral diseases?
Answers
Answered by
28
Antibiotics are useless against viral infections. This is because viruses are so simple that they use their host cells to perform their activities for them. So antiviral drugs work differently to antibiotics, by interfering with the viral enzymes instead.
Answered by
8
Let's see the word "antibiotics" anti=against biotics=life (of bacterias) so these work against life of microrganisms and viruses are they living??
Here is a really good explanation of the difference between a virus and bacteria as explained by Dr. Larry D. Farrell. He also tells why it is difficult to find a "cure" for a virus versus an antibiotic for a bacteria. As you will see, if you "kill" the virus, you also "kill" the host cell.
"The basic problem is that a virus isn't much more than a set of genetic instructions wrapped up in a protective coat that helps deliver the genes into an appropriate host cell. When that happens, expression of those genes begins, ultimately resulting in production of progeny virus particles and (usually) destruction of the infected cells. The progeny virus particles then spread out to infect surrounding cells and continue the process. The viral genes cannot be expressed unless they are introduced into a living host cell that provides the functions needed for expression and replication of the viral
genome. The real problem is that viral replication is carried out by normal host cell functions, although those functions are now being directed by viral information to make viral products, so the infected cell usually isn't appreciably different than an uninfected cell. Anything that will block viral replication in infected cells will also block normal host functions in uninfected cells.
All of this is contrasted with bacterial infections, for which we have a wide variety of effective treatments/cures. Bacteria are capable of independent growth, as long as their nutritional needs are met (they have all of the functions needed to express and replicate their genomes). For pathogenic bacteria, that usually means establishing themselves in a human host but many of those bacteria can be grown on artificial media, if the media are rich enough in the things the bacteria need. The bacteria really need the host only to provide nutrients that are not easily available elsewhere. Bacterial functions, in many cases, are sufficiently different from host functions that drugs can be found that will block bacterial functions without dramatically affecting the host."
Here is a really good explanation of the difference between a virus and bacteria as explained by Dr. Larry D. Farrell. He also tells why it is difficult to find a "cure" for a virus versus an antibiotic for a bacteria. As you will see, if you "kill" the virus, you also "kill" the host cell.
"The basic problem is that a virus isn't much more than a set of genetic instructions wrapped up in a protective coat that helps deliver the genes into an appropriate host cell. When that happens, expression of those genes begins, ultimately resulting in production of progeny virus particles and (usually) destruction of the infected cells. The progeny virus particles then spread out to infect surrounding cells and continue the process. The viral genes cannot be expressed unless they are introduced into a living host cell that provides the functions needed for expression and replication of the viral
genome. The real problem is that viral replication is carried out by normal host cell functions, although those functions are now being directed by viral information to make viral products, so the infected cell usually isn't appreciably different than an uninfected cell. Anything that will block viral replication in infected cells will also block normal host functions in uninfected cells.
All of this is contrasted with bacterial infections, for which we have a wide variety of effective treatments/cures. Bacteria are capable of independent growth, as long as their nutritional needs are met (they have all of the functions needed to express and replicate their genomes). For pathogenic bacteria, that usually means establishing themselves in a human host but many of those bacteria can be grown on artificial media, if the media are rich enough in the things the bacteria need. The bacteria really need the host only to provide nutrients that are not easily available elsewhere. Bacterial functions, in many cases, are sufficiently different from host functions that drugs can be found that will block bacterial functions without dramatically affecting the host."
Kuldeepnehra:
Nice explanation
thankyou
Similar questions