Do antibiotics help on COVID-19 infection?

Antibiotics do not help on COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 is a virus disease, and antibiotics, such as penicillin or ampicillin, do not work on viruses as they are not prokaryotes nor eukaryotes.

There are antiviral medicines, such as interferon, and specific for COVID-19 are under development. Unlike most antibiotics, antiviral drugs do not destroy their target pathogen; instead they inhibit its development.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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24 Comments

fdeisner

In simple terms antibiotics are to treat bacterial infections not viral infections.

Paula Salem

More people need to take this quiz.

Char

vonlora, no I've kept up with it and azithromycin doesn't help..

Louella Wilson

fdeisner, correct. My mother was a pharmacist. One of her big annoyances was explaining to customers that antibiotics do not help viral infections.

Shirley Dutt

But, they may help with any underlying conditions. Such as pneumonia.

deborahpmercer

It still puzzles me (though of course I use it) why antibacterial handwash is useful when the illness isn't bacterial!

Jacqueline Tattam

vonlora, you’re wrong

zizimarcohabs

Does injecting a disinfectant help? ; )

Karin Johansson

Lellie Jackson, no

Karin Johansson

vonlora, it does not help

Richard Ruffner

Lellie Jackson, no

buhlemann

deborahpmercer, :antibacterial" handwashes are misnamed; they are really "antimicrobial". Basically, the alcohol (and sometimes other ingredients) will kill anything alive, whether infectious or not, and resistance is not a problem. "antibiotics" poison cellular processes; "antimicrobials" kill directly. It is like the difference between rat poison and chopping the rat's head off - you won't get rats resistant to the second method.