Explain why tetracycline are ineffective in the treatment of viral infections?!
Question: Explain why tetracycline are ineffective in the treatment of viral infections.?
tetracycline inhibit protein synthesis. how.? and why doesn't it stop the virus from synthesising protein.? thank youHealth Question & Answer
Answers:
tetracyclines inhibit the bacterial ribosome to prevent protein synthesis. Viruses simply do not have ribosomes. So the tetracyclines cannot harm viruses.
In fact there is no "antibiotic" that has any effect on the growth or replication of any virus, because like the story above, antibiotics only inhibit enzymes found in bacteria - since viruses do not contain the same internal machinery as viruses, you cannot treat a viral infection with antibiotics.
Right now there is a rather small market of "antivirals" . These are drugs specifically made to inhibit the machinery that viruses use to replicate. But the only drugs available are for influenza, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, and a very very few others.
For the rhinovirus, adenovirus, and many many other viruses that cause common colds, there are no medicines available that have any inhibitory action at all. Just stick to a good bowl of chicken soup and a good night's rest. (:-)Health Question & Answer
In fact there is no "antibiotic" that has any effect on the growth or replication of any virus, because like the story above, antibiotics only inhibit enzymes found in bacteria - since viruses do not contain the same internal machinery as viruses, you cannot treat a viral infection with antibiotics.
Right now there is a rather small market of "antivirals" . These are drugs specifically made to inhibit the machinery that viruses use to replicate. But the only drugs available are for influenza, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, and a very very few others.
For the rhinovirus, adenovirus, and many many other viruses that cause common colds, there are no medicines available that have any inhibitory action at all. Just stick to a good bowl of chicken soup and a good night's rest. (:-)Health Question & Answer
Tetracycline is an antibiotic. Antibiotics can kill bacteria. They do not kill viruses.Health Question & Answer