How Antibiotics Work
Antibiotics cannot be effective against the common cold. Nor can they have any impact on viral respiratory infections. The reason? Antibiotics target bacterial infections but are completely ineffective against viruses, such as the common cold or other “viral” infections.
Yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, over 18 million courses of antibiotics are prescribed by U.S. doctors every year for the common cold. And over 50 million unnecessary antibiotic courses are prescribed in the U.S. annually for viral respiratory infections.
Use of antibiotics where they are not potentially effective can cause a phenomenon known as antibiotic resistance, in which bacteria – normally susceptible to antibiotic drugs – mutate to become immune to our strongest anti-bacterial drugs.