Antibiotics only work on bacteria that are susceptible to this specific type of antibiotics. Antibiotics don’t work on viruses and funghi. To learn why, try answering the next questions.

Viruses have a different structure and a different way of surviving than bacteria. Technically, they are not even alive. As the name suggests Anti-bio-tics attack living cells in different ways, for example by destroying their cell walls or by damaging the way they reproduce. As viruses don’t have cell walls (only a protective protein coat) or a reproductive system on their own (they make their host cells create new viruses), antibiotics are ineffective against them. But there are so called antiviral drugs that can target them.

Funghi also have a different structure than bacteria. Their cells are much more similar to humans than bacteria. Thus, antibiotics don’t work on funghi. Fun fact: The first antibiotic used in medicine, penicillin, was produced by a funghus, Penicillium rubens.