eli5, Do medicines work on the intruder themselves or are they designed to help the body tackle the intruder

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When we are sick and have an intruder micro-organism in us, do the medicines we take, tackle the intruder all on its own or are they designed to help the body do a more efficient job in tackling this intruder?

In: Biology

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Different medications do different things:

For example, some kinds of antibiotics actually kill bacteria by making their cell walls leak and ooze out all their internal juices until they die; while other kinds antibiotics prevent bacteria from replicating giving your body’s immune system’s white blood cells time to gobble them all up.

Some medications are only to make you feel more comfortable, like medications that reduce headaches or hay fever or nausea; they don’t cure anything but they decrease the suffering of being sick. Sometimes medications are just there to keep you alive long enough for your body to tackle an infection.

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