What prevents viruses from growing in the body, but is not available for all viruses?

• A. Antibiotics
• B. Handwashing
• C. Vaccination
• D. Antivirals

Answer: (C)

Vaccination works by training the immune system to recognize a specific virus and stop it before it can establish infection. When you’re vaccinated, your body creates memory cells and antibodies that respond rapidly if you’re exposed to that virus later, preventing the virus from growing and causing illness. This preventive protection is why vaccines are so effective, but they’re not available for every virus. Some viruses mutate quickly or have tricky biology that makes it hard to develop safe, effective vaccines, and for others there isn’t a workable vaccine yet.

Antibiotics don’t affect viruses at all, since they target bacteria. Handwashing helps reduce the spread of infections and can lower the chance of getting infected, but it doesn’t provide the inside-the-body, pre-exposure protection that a vaccine offers. Antivirals can limit replication of certain viruses after infection, but they aren’t available for all viruses and aren’t preventive in the same way vaccines are.