Antibiotics are powerful drugs used to treat certain illnesses. However, antibiotics do not cure everything, and unnecessary antibiotics can even be harmful. There are two main types of germs that cause most infections. These are viruses and bacteria. Antibiotics cannot kill viruses.
Antibiotics do kill specific bacteria.
Some viruses cause symptoms that resemble bacterial infections, and some bacteria can cause symptoms that resemble viral infections. Your child's physician can determine what type of illness your child has and recommend the proper type of treatment. Each time you take an antibiotic, bacteria are killed. Sometimes, bacteria may be resistant or become resistant. Resistant bacteria do not respond to the antibiotics and continue to cause infection.