Vaccines can help prevent viruses, but the treatment of viral infections has remained challenging. Many public health organizations now caution against prescribing antibiotics until a clinician is certain a patient has a bacterial infection. Antibiotics are not effective against viruses in any way. Many times, viral symptoms are similar to those caused by bacterial infections, but this doesn’t mean the same drugs can effectively treat both. Regardless of whether they fit our definition of life, viruses can wreak havoc on a variety of cells in the human body: Some attack the blood, some go for the respiratory system, some target the liver, and so on. On the other, viruses do not have a cellular structure or their own metabolism, and require a host cell to replicate. On one hand, viruses possess genes, evolve through natural selection, and are capable of reproduction. Described as “organisms at the edge of life,” viruses exhibit a combination of characteristics that has baffled scientists trying to categorize them. Perhaps the most mysterious of all pathogens, viruses inhabit a unique space in the living world. A combination of overprescription and antibiotic use in animals has created a new kind of epidemic: antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
This isn’t the case, but it hasn’t stopped patients from requesting antibiotics when their illness doesn’t go away, or doctors from prescribing them incorrectly.
This success, however, lead to many misconceptions about antibiotics, the most damaging of which is that antibiotics are effective against any microbe, including viruses. Together with vaccination, antibiotics almost wiped out diseases like tuberculosis in the developed world. These drugs, which revolutionized medicine in the 20th century, have become both a blessing and a curse. Luckily, however, we have a powerful tool on our side: antibiotics. The pathogenic bacteria capable of making us sick can cause a wide range of nasty symptoms and, left untreated, are more than capable of killing us. Bacteria are single-celled, can reproduce outside of a host, and are capable of thriving in many types of environments. Actually, most bacteria are helpful, or at least harmless, but it’s the one percent minority of troublemakers that comes to mind when someone mentions these microorganisms. Bacteria are everywhere - on countertops, doorknobs, even inside us. When you fall sick in a developed country, chances are your ailment is either bacterial or viral. Take a look at the difference between bacteria, viruses, and parasites to find the best course of action for each. Though they may manifest with similar symptoms, these conditions are all very different in how they infiltrate your body and how they’re effectively banished.
You’re getting sick, that’s for sure, but what exactly is wrong? Modern medicine tells us such general symptoms could signal many ailments - a flu, strep throat, even malaria. A quick check with the thermometer confirms a fever, and you can feel the beginnings of a sore throat. You wake up sweating, your body sore for no clear reason.
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