How do antiviral medications generally work?

• A. Disrupt RNA/DNA replication
• B. Kill bacteria directly
• C. Inhibit protein synthesis in human cells
• D. Boost immune system only

Answer: (A)

Antiviral medications work mainly by stopping viruses from making copies of their genetic material, effectively halting replication. Viruses rely on their own enzymes to replicate their RNA or DNA, so many antivirals mimic viral building blocks or inhibit viral enzymes, causing genome synthesis to fail or stall. This direct disruption of viral replication is what makes these drugs effective at lowering viral load while aiming to spare host cells from damage.

Killing bacteria directly isn’t the target of antivirals—antibiotics do that. Inhibiting protein synthesis in human cells would be highly toxic and is not how antivirals are designed to work. Simply boosting the immune system without targeting viral replication doesn’t constitute the primary action of these drugs, though supportive immunity can play a role alongside antiviral therapy.