Biology – Antibiotics | e-Consult

Antibiotics are specifically designed to target bacterial structures and processes. Viruses, however, are fundamentally different from bacteria in their structure and how they replicate. This difference in biology is the reason antibiotics are ineffective against viruses.

Bacterial Structure and Replication: Bacteria are prokaryotic cells with a complex cellular structure, including a cell wall, cell membrane, ribosomes, and DNA. They reproduce independently through binary fission, a process that involves synthesizing their own proteins and replicating their DNA. Antibiotics target specific bacterial components, such as the cell wall or ribosomes, to disrupt these processes.

Viral Structure and Replication: Viruses are not cells; they are essentially genetic material (DNA or RNA) enclosed in a protein coat. They lack the cellular machinery necessary for independent replication. Viruses must invade a host cell and hijack the host cell's machinery to replicate. They do not have a cell wall or ribosomes that antibiotics can target.

Therefore, antibiotics that inhibit bacterial cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis, or other bacterial processes have no effect on viruses because viruses do not possess these structures or rely on these processes for survival and replication. Antiviral drugs, on the other hand, are designed to target specific viral processes, such as viral entry, replication, or assembly.