Antibiotics for viral infections

The main question that needs to be answered by those interested in how to treat a viral infection with antibiotics should actually be formulated differently: do antibiotics help with viral infections?

Why is antibiotic treatment of viral infections ineffective?

Antibacterial drugs do not provide a therapeutic effect in viral infections, because bacteria (i.e. microbes) and viruses are different microorganisms. More precisely, viruses (flu, chickenpox and smallpox, adenoviruses Adenoviridae, enterovirus D68, herpes virus HSV, rabies virus Neuroryctes rabid, hepatitis virus Hepatitis viruses, human papillomavirus HPV, etc.) are not organisms at all, since they do not have cells and cell walls and, accordingly, they do not have the cellular mechanisms characteristic of living organisms.

In bacteria, which belong to the class of unicellular prokaryotic organisms, DNA and RNA are located in the cell cytoplasm, and the cell has peptide glycan walls and a cytoplasmic membrane. Viral RNA/DNA is enclosed inside the virion - a particle that is not a cellular structure, but is a protein and protein-lipid membrane (capsid) filled with threadlike nucleic acid molecules that carry their genetic information.

But the most important reason why antibiotics do not help with viral infections is explained by microbiologists around the world by the nature of the reproduction of microbes and viruses. After all, the mechanism of action of antibacterial drugs - pharmacodynamics - is aimed at disrupting the integrity of the bacterial cell membranes, after which the antibiotic binds to certain structures of ribosomes, as a result of which the metabolism in microbial cells is disrupted. The synthesis of proteins necessary for bacteria either slows down or stops irreversibly, and this stops the process of independent reproduction of microorganisms through simple mitosis.

The viral virion is different: it cannot reproduce on its own, it needs to invade the host cell (for this it has special enzymes) to force it to reproduce its genome by replicating RNA and release new viruses created on the basis of human cell proteins.

Why are antibiotics used for viral respiratory tract infections?

Knowing all this, doctors still prescribe antibiotics for viral respiratory tract infections. Especially often - to avoid the development of pneumonia or pleurisy, as well as tonsillitis, laryngitis, nasopharyngitis, sinusitis or otitis - they recommend taking antibiotics for viral infections in children. This is due to doctors' concerns about the possible activation of pneumococci, streptococci and staphylococci present on the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx against the background of ARVI.

For pediatric patients, antibiotics are prescribed by pediatricians in cases of purulent sinusitis, tonsillitis or lymphadenitis, laryngotracheitis with purulent exudation and acute inflammation of the middle ear (otitis). More about what are the indications for the use of antibiotics for viral infections - Antibiotics for colds

Although studies have shown that the inappropriate use of antibiotics not only suppresses the non-specific defense and synthesis of immune cells in the body, but also “grew” a whole generation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that resist the effects of any, even the most powerful antibacterial drugs.

According to research conducted under the auspices of the American Academy of Pediatrics, over the past 15 years, pediatricians have begun to prescribe antibiotics for viral respiratory infections to six out of every ten patients, while in 88-90% of cases the cause of the disease was rhino- or adenoviruses.

Read also - Antibiotics for flu

And about what antibiotics to take for intestinal viral infections, in detail in the publication - Antibiotics for intestinal infections