Virus - Antiviral drugs have become available within the past two decades. No antiviral completely cures a viral infection, but it can decrease the severity and duration of the disease. Antivirals work in different ways: some act by changing the genetic material of the host cell so the virus cannot use it to reproduce, and others act by blocking proteins on the viral capsule that the virus needs to infect host cells.¹⁰⁴

Bacteria - Antibiotics have been around since Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, by chance, at St. Mary's Hospital in London in 1928. Antibiotics work either by killing bacteria or by preventing them from multiplying.

Your doctor can both determine the nature of your illness and provide you with information about treatment.  If your doctor does not think that you need antibiotics to treat your infection, do not insist.  Inappropriate use of antibiotics contributes to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, which is a major public health problem.