An antibiotic is useless against which type of organism?

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Study for the Anti-infective Medications Test. Work with interactive quizzes and detailed explanations. Master the concepts and increase your exam success rate by understanding various anti-infective drugs and their applications!

Multiple Choice

An antibiotic is useless against which type of organism?

Explanation:
Antibiotics target features that are present in bacteria but not in viruses, such as the bacterial cell wall or bacterial ribosomes. Viruses don’t have their own ribosomes or a peptidoglycan cell wall and they replicate by hijacking the host cell’s machinery, so there’s nothing for an antibiotic to disrupt without harming the host. That’s why antibiotics are useless against viruses. In contrast, bacteria have the targets antibiotics attack, fungi require antifungals, and protozoa require antiprotozoals.

Antibiotics target features that are present in bacteria but not in viruses, such as the bacterial cell wall or bacterial ribosomes. Viruses don’t have their own ribosomes or a peptidoglycan cell wall and they replicate by hijacking the host cell’s machinery, so there’s nothing for an antibiotic to disrupt without harming the host. That’s why antibiotics are useless against viruses. In contrast, bacteria have the targets antibiotics attack, fungi require antifungals, and protozoa require antiprotozoals.

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