November 12, 2026 — Health & Safety Tips
By Daniel Frank, M.D.
Having your doctor tell you that you have a viral or bacterial infection can activate many different ideas about treatment. Do you need antibiotics? Or just fluids and rest? What’s the difference between “bacterial” and “viral” anyway?
Symptoms of a bacterial or viral infection can overlap:
Either type of infection can become serious, and it is possible to have both at the same time. So, determining the cause of your symptoms is the best way to get you the right treatment.
It’s the time of year when illnesses can spread quickly at school, holiday gatherings and indoor events. That makes it a great time to learn about the differences between bacterial and viral infection, how they’re treated and when to seek emergency care.
Bacteria are single-celled organisms that can reproduce on their own.
In some cases, an antibiotic can help clear up a bacterial infection. Strep throat is one example of when treatment with antibiotics can shorten symptoms, limit spread and reduce the chance of complications. If you are prescribed an antibiotic, take it as directed and talk with a doctor if you have questions or concerns.
Please don’t stop taking your antibiotic treatment before you complete the full course. Although many patients think to themselves, “I feel better so I can stop,” what you are really doing is potentially making yourself resistant to the prescribed antibiotic therapy. Even worse, with communicable infections like strep, you are helping to make super bacteria that can harm others. Similarly, if you are having concerning side effects of the medication, stop taking them immediately and contact the prescribing clinician or facility.
It is also important to remember that the difference between the treatments for bacterial and viral infections can be significant. However, a real live human patient’s symptoms rarely offer such a clean distinction. This is important to keep in mind when assessing your own symptoms. Some of the most common conditions that even a child could recognize can create a diagnostic challenge for experienced physicians.
A virus multiplies by entering the body’s cells, releasing its own genetic material and using our cells’ “factories” to make copies of itself.
While antibiotics treat certain bacterial infections, they have no effect on viruses. And some viral illnesses, including influenza (the flu), are treated with specific medications.
An ordinary viral respiratory illness, like rhinovirus or a mild flu, is often referred to as “the common cold.” It usually responds well to some basic treatments that you can do at home:
Read the active ingredients on cold and flu products before buying them. Try and avoid combination medicines as they often contain insufficient doses of several different medications (such as a pain reliever, decongestant, and cough medicine) when taken in isolation. This results in limited relief of symptoms, and patients often choose to double the dose to get the needed effect. What’s worse, Acetaminophen is present in many of these products. Taking it separately with a combination medication can accidentally push you past a safe dose. Please talk with your clinician or a pharmacist to help you choose a product that fits your symptoms and other medications.
An antiviral medicine, like Tamiflu® or Relenza®, may help with the flu. However, the efficacy of these medications is directly related to starting them early. They have shown little to no meaningful impact if started several days after the onset of symptoms. People at higher risk of flu complications should talk with a doctor at the first sign of symptoms. For a severely inflamed sore throat, the doctor may prescribe a single dose of a corticosteroid. It can provide some pain relief, but it does not treat the underlying virus and is not appropriate for everyone. Steroids are not a routine treatment for the flu.
To get to the bottom of your symptoms, we’ll start by asking when the symptoms began and what came with them. A runny nose, cough or hoarseness is likely viral but can still be bacterial in origin. We will examine the throat and pay attention to your breathing, hydration and overall condition.
At Physicians PremiER, we have on-site tests for strep, mono and flu. We also have specialized viral panel test called a Spotfire and that looks at the 10 most common viral infections. If your cough, breathing or exam raises concern for pneumonia, an X-ray may help us see what is happening in the lungs.
We also have access to MeMed BV, an FDA-cleared blood test that examines proteins involved in the body’s response to infection. It can help us judge whether a bacterial or viral cause is more likely.
The doctor will look at the whole picture — your symptoms, your test results and trends in what’s going around in your community — to give you an accurate diagnosis.
A cough or fever that improves and then returns warrants a conversation with a doctor. It can also require a trip to the urgent care or ER if the symptoms are severe, or you do not have a primary care provider you can speak with in a timely manner. Go to the ER for:
Patients sometimes apologize to ER doctors because they are unsure if they should have come in. Our staff at Physicians PremiER wants you to be in control of your own health choices. If you feel unwell, my job is to examine you, develop the best possible diagnosis and work with you to determine the next steps.
Call 911 immediately if someone is unconscious, turning bluish, severely struggling to breathe, crushing chest pain, having a seizure, localized severe weakness, slurred speech or becomes limp or unresponsive. These symptoms are severe enough that trying to put this type of patient in a private vehicle can raise the risk permanent disability or death. EMS has the ability to perform life-saving interventions in this type of patient and stabilize them in route to a hospital-based Emergency Room
Stay prepared: Find an emergency room near you. If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911.
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