[Answer] Antibiotics - for example penicillin - cannot be used to treat viral infections such as the common cold. Why?

Answer: Antibiotics inhibit enzymes that are essential to the survival of bacteria only

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Antibiotics - for example penicillin - cannot be used to treat viral infections such as the common cold. Why? 175 rows · The following is a list of antibiotics .The highest division between antibiotics is bactericidal and bacteriostatic.Bactericidals kill bacteria directly whereas bacteriostatics prevent them from dividing. However these classifications are based on laboratory behavior. In practice both can effectively treat a bacterial infection. Like other antibiotics cefalexin cannot treat viral infections such as the flu common cold or acute bronchitis. Cefalexin can be used in those who have mild or moderate allergies to penicillin. However it is not recommended in those with severe penicillin allergies. Common side … Antibiotic - Wikipedia Respiratory tract infection - Wikipedia The emergence of resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is a common phenomenon. Emergence of resistance often reflects evolutionary processes that take place during antibiotic therapy. The antibiotic treatment may selectfor bacterial strains with physiologically or genetically enhanced capacity to survive high doses of antibiotics. Under certain conditions it may result in preferential growth of resistant bacteria while growth of susceptible bacteria is inhibited by the drug. For example antibacterial selecti… Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections . Most antivirals target specific viruses while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Unlike most antibiotics antiviral drugs do not destroy their target pathogen; instead they inhibit its development.. Antiviral drugs are one class of antimicrobials a larger group which also ... Ciprofloxacin is an antibiotic used to treat a number of bacterial infections . This includes bone and joint infections intra abdominal infections certain type of infectious diarrhea respiratory tract infections skin infections typhoid fever and urinary tract infe...

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