AntibioticsSpec 5.16
Antibiotics are medicines that treat bacterial infections. They work by inhibiting cell processes in the bacterium. They do not harm the host organism's own cells, because the host's cells work differently.
Antibiotics can only be used to treat bacterial infections. Viruses are not cells. They live and reproduce inside host cells, so the cell processes that antibiotics inhibit are not present in a virus. Antibiotics therefore do not work on viral diseases such as HIV or Ebola.