If you didn't have an immune system would antibiotics work?

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Dave C
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Joined: 08/24/2010

I saw an episode of House where they destroyed a patient's immune system because they thought she had cancer but she ended up having the common cold. They told her antibiotics would not work because you need an immune system to work with the antibiotics.

Is this true?


What'd I Say
User offline. Last seen 1 year 23 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 08/24/2010

You need an immune system for a Vaccine to work. Antibiotics flow through the body when ingested or injected, and when the drug encounters bacteria that are susceptible to contact with the antibiotic it dies. Penicillin being used to treat pneumonia (lung infection) is a good example. Your immune system wouldn't do much apart from help rid your body of the dead pathogen and dead cell tissue, but the liver and kidney operate to do this too. Are you certain you didn't hear them say a Vaccine wouldn't do much?

Also, depending on the bacteria sure antibiotics do not work even whether you have a fully functioning immune system. Hey, you're talking about a Tv doctor show. You can't believe everything they say! It's not all accurate even whether it sounds that way.

Anne
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Joined: 01/28/2010

Yes and no. Some antibiotics kill bacteria on their own. These are known as bacteriocidal antibiotics. Eg. penicillin weakens the bacterial cell wall and the bacteria burst and die when they start to grow. However, whether even one resistant bacterium survives, without an immune system, it can grow into a population of resistant bacteria and cause the same infection to come back all over again. Immunocompromised patients are generally treated with bacteriocidal antibiotics, and sometimes more than one, in order to reduce the odds of the infection coming back. (because a bacterium that is resistant to one drug might still be succeptible to another. Other antibiotics are bacteriostatic. That means they just inhibit the growth of the bacteria. A healthy immune system can then clean up the mess, but in a patient with little to no immune system, all they would do is slow the infection down, not stop it.

Of course, which antibiotics they can use also depend on the bacteria they're fighting, the person's allergies, and other health factors. It's possible for doctors to receive backed into a corner where there isn't really a fantastic choice available.

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