Do antibiotics help in curing cold?

The common cold still manages to baffle doctors, who with all the technology of the twenty first century still have not managed to find a cure. The sore throat, runny nose, fever and congestion will still be part of our lives, when winter comes or there is a sudden weather change.

What we do have are several kind of medication to treat the symptoms of a cold. We have antihistamines for the runny nose, fever reducers for the fever, pain relivers for the minor aches and decongestants for the stuffed head.

However, many people think that taking antibiotics can help with the cold. This is utterly and completely wrong. Antibiotics are drugs designed to kill all kinds of bacteria. Colds are not caused by bacteria, they are caused by viruses. So taking antibiotics for a cold will not help in any way. It can actually make your symptoms worse. The body contains a great deal of bacteria which help to maintain the internal environment of the body. Antibiotics kill these bacteria, and as a result, the patient can get nausea, diarrhea, and in the cases of women, yeast infections. You don’t need that on top of having a cold - so when you have a cold, stay far, far away from antibiotics.