--- title: Antibiotics, viruses and side effects — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Antibiotics, viruses and side effects», a lesson of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Germs come in different kinds, and the two you hear about most are bacteria and viruses: bacteria are tiny living cells, while viru --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/) / Antibiotics, viruses and side effects # Antibiotics, viruses and side effects Lesson 19 of the medicine course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/0/) — Germs come in different kinds, and the two you hear about most are bacteria and viruses: bacteria are tiny living cells, while viruses are far smaller and can only multiply inside our own cells. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/1/) — Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria or stop them growing, but they cannot touch a virus, so they do nothing for a cold, flu or most sore throats. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/2/) — Picture a key that only fits one lock: an antibiotic fits the machinery of bacteria, and a virus simply has no such lock. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/3/) — Every time antibiotics are used, the few bacteria that happen to survive can multiply, so careless use breeds germs the medicine no longer kills; this is called antibiotic resistance. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/4/) — All medicines can have side effects, unwanted effects on top of the ones you want, which is why doctors weigh the good against the bad before they prescribe. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/5/) — Antibiotics kill bacteria or stop them multiplying, and they have no effect on viruses. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/6/) — Colds, flu and most coughs and sore throats are caused by viruses, so antibiotics do not help them get better faster. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/7/) — A chest infection caused by bacteria can improve within a couple of days on antibiotics, but doctors ask patients to take the course exactly as prescribed and to check with them before stopping. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/8/) — Antibiotic resistance means the bacteria change so the medicine stops working; it is the bacteria that become resistant, not the person's body. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/9/) — Using leftover antibiotics is unsafe, because they may be the wrong medicine or dose for a new illness and they help resistance spread. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/10/) — Antibiotics also kill some of the helpful bacteria in the gut, so a runny tummy is a common side effect and usually not an allergy. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/11/) — The leaflet in a medicine box lists every side effect ever reported, and most people get none or only mild ones. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/12/) — Some older hay fever tablets (antihistamines) reach the brain and cause sleepiness, and pharmacists can suggest non-drowsy kinds. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/13/) — An itchy rash after a new medicine can be an allergic reaction, so the doctor changes the medicine and writes the reaction in the patient's record. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/14/) — Some medicines interact, making each other stronger or weaker, so doctors and pharmacists need to know about every medicine and herbal remedy a person takes. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/15/) — Alexander Fleming noticed in 1928 that a mould killed bacteria on a dish, and Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and their team turned penicillin into a medicine in the 1940s; eating mouldy food is not a medicine and can make you ill. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/19-antibiotics-viruses-and-side-effects/16/) — Antibiotics have saved millions of lives from infections that once often killed, such as infected wounds and pneumonia, an infection of the lungs. - ← previous: [The right dose and never more than](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/18-the-right-dose-and-never-more-than/) - next →: [At the pharmacy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/20-at-the-pharmacy/) - ↑ back to [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/)