Why do antibiotics not work against viruses that infect humans?
Posted on September 14th, 2008 in Answers
WMC asked:
Why do antibiotics not work against viruses that infect humans?
Why do antibiotics not work against viruses that infect humans?
1 Viruses have efflux pumps and antibiotic degrading enzymes.
2 Viruses do not have peptidoglycan cell walls and are thus not vulnerable to penicillin-like antibiotics.
3 Viruses have a peptidoglycan cell wall just like bacteria, but antibiotic resistant.
4 The viral DNA polymerase is protected inside its nucleus.
5 The mitochondria in the viruses are not sensitive to most antibiotics.
This post has 2 comments
September 16th, 2008
I would think it’s #2, since viruses only have a strand of RNA or DNA enclosed in a protein coat, and sometime an additional fatty layer.
September 19th, 2008
In recalling the structure of a virus, including DNA or RNA core and protein coat, and that viruses lack some basic processes common to most living organisms.
Replication of viruses takes place by:
1) injection of viral DNA into a host cell
2) the control of protein manufacture by viral DNA
3) the production of new viruses
Although viruses cannot be treated with antibiotics, which are effective only against bacteria, the body’s immune system has many defenses against viral infections. There are some antiviral drugs available for polio, influenza, rabies, yellow fever, measles, mumps, and chicken pox.
There are a few hypothesis’s about the origin of viruses. One is that they originated from self-replicating RNA molecules. A more widely accepted theory, is that viruses are derived from normal cellular components that gained the ability to replicate
autonomously.
*All viruses contain either DNA or RNA but, not both and, a protein coat which encases the nucleic acid.
In researching info based on your choices, I would choose # 4.
I hope that this is informative and useful.
A few websites:).html
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