(DON'T NEED)Antibiotics and Painkillers

Question 1

What do antibiotics do?

Answer 1

Antibiotics can cure bacterial diseases, however antibiotics cannot be used to kill viral pathogens.

Question 2

Who discovered the first antibiotic?

Answer 2

Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic. Antibiotics are chemical compounds that kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria.

Question 3

Why don’t antibiotics get prescribed for small infections?

Answer 3

Because then the specific pathogen will become immune to the antibiotic and the antibiotic will no longer work on the pathogen. This happens because of natural selection.

Question 4

Why can’t antibiotics be used for viral infections?

Answer 4

A virus is a non-living organism and will only do damage to a cell once inside of the cell whereas bacteria does damage from the outside. So it’s hard to make a drug that will kill a virus without damaging human tissue.

Question 5

What is the difference between antibiotics and painkillers?

Answer 5

Antibiotics kill or slow down the growth of pathogens however painkillers just relieve the pain and do not kill the pathogens.