Biology

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GCSE

Disease and the Development of Medicines

Question

Where can antibiotics be prescribed inappropriately?

3 years ago

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Nettie Cole


1 Answer

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Antibiotics are only effective at treating bacterial infection - it would be inappropriate to treat a viral infection with antibiotics. Antibiotics disrupt metabolic processes of the bacteria, such as cell wall assembly. As viruses are non-living and rely upon host cell processes, antibiotics cannot destroy viral particles and therefore cannot treat the diseases they cause.

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