HOW TO FIGHT BACTERIA AND VIRUSES
Bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics. The most effective antibiotics are those developed to fight certain specific bacteria. But some bacteria become too smart for antibiotics (see the article on page 42).

Antibiotics have no effect on viruses. However some specific antiviral drugs are available to treat virus infections. There are also vaccines available to protect your body against viruses such as measles and polio.

Bacteria v viruses
Many bacteria and viruses are highly contagious and although both can make you ill and even kill you they work in completely different ways.

Bacteria are living organisms that can start multiplying wherever they are – in your kitchen or bathroom or in your ears, lungs or brain.

Viruses, on the other hand, can reproduce only inside a human, animal or plant host. Although not all bacteria are harmful some can make you extremely ill.

Bacterial diseases include bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, ear infections and rheumatic fever.

Viral diseases include flu, colds, herpes, hepatitis, glandular fever, measles, polio, German measles and Aids.

When flu hits you with a double whammy
Although antibiotics are powerless against viruses, new medications that target flu viruses (known as neuramidase inhibitors and sold under the brand names Relenza and Tamiflu) can make you feel better if taken within 24 hours.

The trouble is that flu weakens the immune system – and in some cases this weakened condition is just what bacteria are waiting for, especially those that flourish in the lungs.

When you get flu – with typical symptoms of headaches and body pains followed by a sore chest and a cough that starts out dry then becomes wet – it’s actually because of a secondary bacterial infection in your lungs such as bronchitis or pneumonia. The bacterial infection must be treated with antibiotics, especially if you’re prone to asthma and lung problems.

And then there are prions
Prions are neither viruses nor bacteria but clever little proteins that attack their victims’ brain until the person or animal dies. They can survive in soil for up to three years and currently there are no treatments to cure the diseases they cause.

Prion infection causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people and mad cow disease in cattle. It’s currently accepted you can get a prion infection by eating infected meat, especially if it has come into contact with brain fl id (cerebrospinal fluid) or brain tissue.

A prion has no DNA but can replicate itself. Scientists still don’t know how.

YOU Pulse, Autumn 2008