12/07/2025
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Bacteria and viruses are too tiny to be seen by the naked eye, can cause similar symptoms and are often spread in the same way, but that’s where the similarities end.
A bacterium is a single, but complex, cell. It can survive on its own, inside or outside the body.
Most bacteria aren’t harmful. In fact, we have many bacteria on and inside our body, especially in the gut to help digest food.
Viruses are smaller and are not cells. Unlike bacteria, they need a host such as a human or animal to multiply. Viruses cause infections by entering and multiplying inside the host’s healthy cells.
Bacterial vs viral infection
As the names suggest, bacteria cause bacterial infections, and viruses cause viral infections.
It is important to know whether bacteria or viruses cause an infection, because the treatments differ. Examples of bacterial infections include whooping cough, strep throat, ear infection and urinary tract infection (UTI).
Viral infections include the common cold, flu, most coughs and bronchitis, chickenpox and HIV/AIDS.
It can be difficult to know what causes an infection, because viral and bacterial infections can cause similar symptoms. Your doctor may need a sample of your urine, stool and blood for a ‘culture’ test to have the bugs identified under a microscope.
Treatment of bacterial and viral infection
Bacterial infection treatment
Doctors usually treat bacterial infections with antibiotics. They either kill bacteria or stop them multiplying.
But since antibiotic resistance is a growing problem, antibiotics may be prescribed only for serious bacterial infections.
Viral infection treatment
The treatment of viral infections can include:
managing symptoms, such as honey for coughs and warm fluids like chicken soup for oral hydration
paracetamol to relieve fever
stopping viral reproduction using antiviral medicines, such as medicines for HIV/AIDS and cold sores
preventing infection in the first place, such as vaccines for flu and hepatitis
Remember: Antibiotics won’t work for viral infections.
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Sources:
Mayo Clinic (Bacterial vs. viral infections: How do they differ?), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Antibiotic Resistance Questions and Answers), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Virus or bacteria chart), WebMD (Bacterial and viral infections), UpToDate (The common cold in children: Management and prevention)
