How do antibiotics effect viruses ?

**guest589745** · 02-05-2007, 06:28 PM

I know that viruses can grow imunte to antibiotics ro soemthing of that nature but, can anyone explain how exactly? I am trying to tell my girlfriends friend why they should not keep giving their child antibiotics at the first sign of any sickness, IMO.

And I have some amoxin, or flexall left over from my abcess, would this even help with a flu or cold ?

**dece870717** · 02-05-2007, 06:36 PM

Bacteria become resist to drugs because of a mutation. The mutation causes a loss of information and because of it the bacteria may get a deformed ribosome and the antibiotic can not lock onto the ribosome anymore making the bacteria resistant. But in the long run the mutated bacteria put into the population of normal bacteria would be worse off.

**kaberle_15** · 02-05-2007, 06:38 PM

Yea its called antibiotic resistance where a small portion survives the antibiotic and multiplies to create an imune virus, I had to study it in school.

I found this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic , read about misuse and resistance it should clarify things.

**ebjack** · 02-05-2007, 06:39 PM

pasted from the CDC

Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses
"" Antibiotics will not cure upper respiratory viral illnesses, such as:
Colds or flu
Most coughs and bronchitis
Sore throats not caused by strep
Runny noses
"" Tens of millions of antibiotics prescribed in doctors' offices each year are for viral infections, which cannot effectively be treated with antibiotics. Doctors cite diagnostic uncertainty, time pressure on physicians, and patient demand as the primary reasons why antibiotics are over-prescribed.
"" Taking antibiotics for viral infections - such as a cold, cough, the flu and most bronchitis - will not:
Cure the infections
Keep other individuals from catching the illness
Help a person feel better
Taking antibiotics for viral infections will increase the risk of antibiotic resistance.
The spread of viral infections can be reduced through frequent hand washing and by avoiding close contact with others.

**ecivon** · 02-05-2007, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by Skullsmasher

I know that viruses can grow imunte to antibiotics ro soemthing of that nature but, can anyone explain how exactly? I am trying to tell my girlfriends friend why they should not keep giving their child antibiotics at the first sign of any sickness, IMO.

And I have some amoxin, or flexall left over from my abcess, would this even help with a flu or cold ?

Hey Bro ... It's not that viruses grow immune to antibiotics, they are not affected by antibiotics.

The other issue with over prescribing anti's is that the body has many needed and beneficial bacteria in the body, especially in the digestive/intestinal tracts and the medicine will destroy these and make the patient more susceptible to other medical problems, especially in the lower gi tract.

**newbrew** · 02-05-2007, 08:01 PM

Let's get something straight....

Antibiotics are for bacteria infections, not virus infections. Viruses and bacteria are 2 completely different things. Antibiotics have no effect of viruses.

**thegodfather** · 02-05-2007, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by newbrew

Let's get something straight....

Antibiotics are for bacteria infections, not virus infections. Viruses and bacteria are 2 completely different things. Antibiotics have no effect of viruses.

Exactly what I was going to say....

Currently no anti-virals are 100% effective at killing a virus. The only way for a virus to be eliminated is for it to run it's course. As some of you may or may not know, the virus is NOT what is directly causing your symptoms (runny nose, sore throat, cou***ng, etc). These symptoms are all YOUR bodies reaction to the virus and its attempts to cope with or eliminate the virus. The virus itself does not have a complete set of DNA and cannot replicate itself, it needs the host cells DNA in order to replicate itself inside of that cell, at which point the cell membrane will burst once enough of the virus has been replicated, and the process starts all over again. It may sound very simple, but simply put the virus's sole purpose is to live. Anti-virals are only effective at killing the virus OUTSIDE of the cell membrane, at the point which the cell bursts and releases new virus, they cannot rid the infected cells of the virus without killing the entire cell.

Bacteria on the other hand is an in tact organism which can replicate itself and has its own complete set of DNA. Anti-biotics are what is able to kill them, not anti-virals. Bacteria can become resistant to anti-biotics through mutation (can be seen as evolution), however an anti-biotic will have no effect what so ever on a virus, NONE...

**thegodfather** · 02-05-2007, 08:26 PM

To add to this, HIV/AIDS is a virus, and one of the new strategies in curing AIDS is thought to be keeping the patient alive long enough for the virus to run its full course and then leave the body. This is another reason that Ebola/Hemhorragic Fever is so deadly, because there is no effective anti-viral that can cope with it and I believe it kills the majority if not all of its victims. Also, one of the hardest things about fighting virus's is that because their DNA is not complete it can change and mutate at will and this is why not even the common cold has a cure. You can create an anti-viral for that one specific strain of the common cold, but next year you have 400 new strains.

The over the counter medicine like acetaminophen, naproxen sodium, pseudoephedrine, etc are NOT curing the illness, they are merely supressing the SYMPTOMS of your bodies OWN RESPONSE to the invading virus. You hope to supress the symptoms while the virus runs its course inside of your body..

**guest589745** · 02-05-2007, 08:41 PM

Does supressing the symptoms negatively effect you ?

**thegodfather** · 02-05-2007, 09:40 PM

Im no doctor......yet

However I would imagine that by taking cough syrup, you're impeding the body from expelling the dead virus and therefore slowing up the process... i.e. sneezing..runny nose...cou***ng are all ways for the body to expell the virus from the body, so I guess in theory it would stop up the process...The body gets a fever because its working so hard to expell the virus, however the fever can be damaging as well which is why we control it with meds... Maybe Doc.Sust can help us out on this one..