Why antibiotics are not prescribed to kill viral infections?
- AViruses take refuge in a cell organelle where antibiotics cannot reach.
- BViruses neither have cell walls nor their own metabolic machinery that can be targeted by antibiotics.
- CViruses mutate rapidly.
- DNone of the above
Solution & Step-by-step Explanation
Antibiotics specifically target cellular structures and biochemical pathways unique to bacteria, such as the synthesis of cell walls, protein synthesis machinery, or metabolic functions. Viruses are non-cellular entities that lack a cell wall and do not possess their own metabolic machinery; instead, they hijack the host cell's metabolic processes to replicate. Therefore, mechanisms targeted by antibiotics are completely absent in viruses.