Can I use antibiotics to treat a viral skin infection?

You can't use antibiotics to treat a viral skin infection. Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, and using them to treat a viral infection will not only fail to help the infection, but may also cause further problems. For example, antibiotics may kill helpful bacteria in your body that your system needs; any disease-causing bacteria that are present in your system may develop resistance to improperly used antibiotics, as well. This is important because bacterial infections that become resistant to antibiotics are harder to treat. However, if you have a bacterial infection along with a viral infection, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics for the bacterial infection.