Everything You Need to Know About Viruses

Treatment and drugs

Bacterial infections can be handled and treated with antibiotics, but viral infections call for vaccinations to prevent them in the first place or antiviral drugs to treat them. There are times when the only possible treatment is to provide symptom relief.

Antiviral drugs have been created in response to the AIDS pandemic. However, these antiviral drugs won’t destroy the pathogen, but they will inhibit their development while slowing down the progress of the disease.

Antivirals are also used for treating an infection with the herpes simplex virus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, shingles, and chickenpox.

Vaccines

Vaccination is the cheapest and most effective way to prevent viruses. Some vaccines are successful in eliminating diseases, such as smallpox.

Virus vaccinations consist of:

• a weakened form of the virus
• viral proteins called antigens, which stimulate the body to form antibodies that will fight off future
• infections with the same virus
• live-attenuated viruses, such as immunization for poliomyelitis

Live-attenuated vaccines wear the risk of causing the original disease in people with weak immune systems.

Currently, vaccinations exist for polio, measles, mumps, and rubella, among others. General use of these vaccines has lowered their predominance dramatically. For example, two doses of the rubella vaccine, offer 97 percent protection against this disease.

Also, the measled vaccine has reached a 99-percent reduction in the prevalence of measles in the United States (U.S.). If there is an epidemic, it usually affects the people who are not vaccinated.

There are people who choose not to vaccinate their children, but considering the fact that most people around them do vaccinate, the risk of getting measles is reduced. However, if less than 92 to 95 percent of people get vaccinated, a community can lose its “herd immunity,” and an epidemic can occur.

“Antivaxxers help breathe new life into old diseases,” according to CDC.

This can also impact vulnerable people who are incapable to receive the vaccine for some reason, such as a jeopardized immune system. Viral infections typically can be treated without treatment, but proper medication can reduce symptoms such as pain, fever, and cough.