Explore how antibiotics block bacterial processes absent from human cells, while viral disease requires treatments targeting viral replication in IB Biology SL C3.2.13.
Outline why antibiotics are effective against bacteria but not against viruses.
Antibiotics block or inhibit specific metabolic pathways or cell functions found in bacteria, such as bacterial protein synthesis or cell wall formation. Viruses must use host/eukaryotic cell metabolism or do not have their own metabolic pathways, and host/eukaryotic cell metabolism or pathways are not blocked or inhibited by antibiotics.