What type of pathogens are antibiotics not effective against?

Antibiotics are specifically designed to target bacterial infections by disrupting processes unique to bacterial cells, such as cell wall synthesis or protein production. Therefore, their use is effective against bacteria, but they do not work on viruses.

Viruses have completely different structures and replication mechanisms compared to bacteria. They rely on host cells to replicate and do not possess the cellular machinery that antibiotics target. As a result, antibiotics are ineffective against viral pathogens, making them inappropriate treatments for viral infections, such as the common cold or influenza.

In contrast, antifungal medications are used for fungal infections, and antiparasitic drugs target protozoan infections, which highlights the specificity of treatment types based on the nature of the pathogens.