Antibiotics, such as penicillin, are medicines that help to cure bacterial disease by killing infective bacteria inside the body. It is important that specific bacteria should be treated by specific antibiotics.
Antibiotics cannot kill viral pathogens
Painkillers and other medicines are used to treat the symptoms of disease but do not kill pathogens.
The use of antibiotics has greatly reduced deaths from infectious bacterial diseases. However, the emergence of strains resistant to antibiotics is of great concern.