Why can t antibiotics treat viruses?

Antibiotic drugs kill bacteria by disrupting their cell walls. But virus' external covering, known as the viral envelope, is almost identical to the host cell's membranes, making them difficult to target. Some anti-viral drugs have been developed. They work by disrupting a part of the virus' lifecycle. read more

Antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. Viral infections are completely different and are uneffected by antibiotics. Viral infections generally last for a week to ten days (depending on the virus) and you can basically only treat the symptoms while the virus lives its lifespan. read more

Simply put, antibiotics cannot kill viruses because viruses have different structures and replicate in a different way than bacteria. Antibiotics work by targeting the growth machinery in bacteria (not viruses) to kill or inhibit those particular bacteria. read more