Medicine & Health
How do antibiotics work?
Antibiotics work by targeting structures or processes that bacteria need to live and multiply — but that human cells don't have. Some burst the bacteria's cell wall, others stop them making proteins or copying DNA, killing them or halting their growth.
See it in motion.
Watch a 2-minute animated lesson that shows exactly how antibiotics works.
Step by step
- 1They exploit differences between bacterial and human cells.
- 2Some destroy the bacterial cell wall; others block protein or DNA production.
- 3'Bactericidal' ones kill bacteria; 'bacteriostatic' ones stop them multiplying.
- 4They don't affect viruses, which work completely differently.
Frequently asked questions
- How do antibiotics kill bacteria?
- By attacking bacteria-specific targets — like their cell wall or protein-making machinery — that human cells lack.
- Why don't antibiotics harm our own cells?
- They target features unique to bacteria, so human cells are largely unaffected.
- Why does antibiotic resistance develop?
- Overuse lets surviving, tougher bacteria multiply and pass on resistance, so the drugs stop working.