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Scientists are confident: antibiotic can affect the virus
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Everyone knows that an antibiotic has no antiviral activity. An antibiotic affects a cell - be it a bacterium, a fungus or a tumor structure - and causes a disruption of molecular processes in it. As a result, the cell dies. A virus does not have a cellular organization: it is just a complex of nucleic acids with proteins. Therefore, an antibiotic cannot affect viral activity.
Scientists are sure that such arguments are fair if we talk separately about a virus and separately about an antibiotic. But a virus does not live in a vacuum: to reproduce, it needs to penetrate a cell that is included in the composition of tissues and entire organs. Is a virus able to sense the presence of an antibiotic - for example, against the background of a change in living conditions?
Scientists have long tried to find out how the susceptibility of viruses changes in the presence of antibiotics. There were no clear results on this issue.
Not long ago, specialists conducted another experiment in which they examined the development of the herpes simplex virus. This virus is capable of penetrating any mucous tissue: in this project, antibiotics were used to treat the vaginal mucosa of rodents. It was found that antibiotics inhibited the processes of viral reproduction, which led to a weakening of the symptoms of the disease. That is, antibiotics did not allow the viral infection to demonstrate its full strength.
At first, a combination of several antibiotics was used in the experiment. However, after that, scientists wanted to determine which specific drug has the discovered antiviral effect - first of all, to better understand the mechanism of drug activity. Neomycin became such an antiviral antibiotic. This drug stimulated intracellular genes that controlled antiviral protection. A more detailed mechanism of action of the drug is still unknown. However, it is already becoming clear: the effect of antibiotic therapy is not only the destruction of microbes, but also the impact on the entire molecular-cellular process.
Specialists tested the effect of Neomycin on another virus - the flu virus. However, the activity of the drug changed here: after the drug was introduced into the nasal passages of rodents, their resistance to the viral strain increased several times. Without Neomycin, sick mice died, and under the influence of the drug, 40% of rodents survived.
Of course, this does not mean that antibiotics should be used en masse to treat viral infections. Firstly, not every antibiotic exhibits such effects. Secondly, not every virus reacts to antibiotics in this way. Thirdly, it is not yet clear whether antibiotic therapy for viral infections has any tangible benefit - after all, as is known, antibacterial drugs have a detrimental effect on beneficial flora in the body.
For now, scientists are commenting on the results of the study as follows: even seemingly ordinary drugs - for example, antibiotics - can surprise us. There is no talk yet of any clinical application of this finding.
Details of the study are available at www.nature.com/articles/s41564-018-0138-2
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