MPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 68 of 100

Correct — option (4), Only D. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is one of the most familiar drugs that is genuinely both an analgesic and an antipyretic: it relieves mild-to-moderate pain (headache, muscle ache, toothache) by acting on pain pathways in the central nervous system, and it lowers fever by acting on the hypothalamic heat-regulating centre to reset the body's temperature set-point, chiefly through inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis in the brain. This dual analgesic-and-antipyretic action is exactly why paracetamol is the standard first-line drug reached for both for pain relief and for bringing down fever, and it is why it alone matches the question's 'both' requirement. Statement A, Veronal, is barbital, one of the earliest barbiturate drugs, classed as a sedative-hypnotic used to induce sleep or sedation — it is not designed or used as either a pain reliever or a fever reducer. Statement B, Benadryl, is the brand name for diphenhydramine, an antihistamine used to treat allergic symptoms and, at higher doses, as a sedative/sleep aid — again, neither an analgesic nor an antipyretic in its primary action. Statement C, Penicillin, is an antibiotic that kills or inhibits bacteria; it treats the underlying infection that may be causing a fever, but it has no direct analgesic or antipyretic action of its own — a fever from a bacterial infection subsides because the infection is cleared, not because penicillin itself lowers the body's temperature set-point. Since only paracetamol genuinely functions as both an analgesic and an antipyretic, the correct set is 'Only D'.

• (1)Only A — This selects Veronal (barbital) alone, but barbital is a barbiturate sedative-hypnotic, used historically to induce sleep and sedation by depressing the central nervous system — it has no established analgesic or antipyretic action, and choosing it alone also omits paracetamol, the drug that actually fits both criteria.
• (2)Both A and D — This correctly includes D (paracetamol, which is genuinely both an analgesic and antipyretic) but incorrectly pairs it with A, Veronal, a barbiturate sedative-hypnotic with no analgesic or antipyretic function. Adding a sedative to a genuinely dual-action drug does not make the pair correct; it only shows the sedative was misclassified.
• (3)Both B and C — This pairs Benadryl (diphenhydramine, an antihistamine/sedative used for allergies and sleep) with Penicillin (an antibiotic that treats bacterial infection), and neither drug is an analgesic or an antipyretic in its own pharmacological action. Penicillin can indirectly end a fever by curing the infection causing it, but that is not the same as having a direct antipyretic effect on the body's temperature-regulating centre, and this option also entirely omits paracetamol, the one drug that actually qualifies.

Drugs are classified by their primary pharmacological action: analgesics relieve pain, antipyretics reduce fever, antibiotics kill or inhibit bacteria, antihistamines counter allergic (histamine-mediated) reactions, and sedative-hypnotics induce calm or sleep. Some drugs, notably paracetamol and the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen, act on the same underlying biochemical pathway — inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis via the enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX) — giving them combined analgesic and antipyretic effects, and in the case of NSAIDs, anti-inflammatory effects as well. Paracetamol's action is concentrated mainly in the central nervous system, which is why it is a strong analgesic and antipyretic but only a weak anti-inflammatory agent compared with NSAIDs. Drugs belonging to other categories entirely — sedatives like barbital, antihistamines like diphenhydramine, and antibiotics like penicillin — do not share this prostaglandin-based mechanism and so do not carry analgesic or antipyretic properties of their own.

MPSC's pharmacology and general-science questions on drug classification are built to test whether a candidate can separate a drug's actual mechanism of action from a loose, superficial association with 'medicine that helps when you're sick'. Penicillin is a particularly effective distractor here because it genuinely does resolve fevers caused by bacterial infection, tempting a candidate to call it 'antipyretic' by outcome rather than by mechanism; the question rewards recognising that curing an infection is not the same pharmacological category as directly resetting the body's fever set-point, which is what a true antipyretic does.

• Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is both an analgesic (pain reliever) and an antipyretic (fever reducer), acting mainly via central prostaglandin inhibition.
• Veronal (barbital) is a barbiturate sedative-hypnotic, used to induce sleep or sedation, not for pain or fever.
• Benadryl (diphenhydramine) is an antihistamine used for allergic symptoms, also used as a sedative at higher doses.
• Penicillin is an antibiotic that treats bacterial infections; it can end an infection-related fever indirectly but has no direct antipyretic action.
• Analgesic-antipyretic drugs like paracetamol act by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis via the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway.

• Classifying an antibiotic as antipyretic because it eventually cures a fever, when its actual mechanism is antibacterial, not temperature-regulating
• Assuming any drug commonly kept in a household medicine cabinet must be an analgesic/antipyretic
• Confusing an antihistamine's sedative side-effect with an actual pain-relieving or fever-reducing action
• Treating 'used when sick' as equivalent to a specific pharmacological classification such as analgesic or antipyretic

MPSC pharmacology-adjacent science questions typically list a mix of drug categories — analgesic/antipyretic, antibiotic, antihistamine, sedative — and ask which one(s) fit a specific dual classification, rewarding candidates who know each drug's actual mechanism rather than a general sense that a drug 'helps with illness'.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which biochemical pathway does paracetamol primarily act on to produce its analgesic and antipyretic effects ?

  • (a)Histamine release inhibition
  • (b)Prostaglandin synthesis inhibition via the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway
  • (c)Bacterial cell wall synthesis inhibition
  • (d)GABA receptor stimulation

  Answer(b) Prostaglandin synthesis inhibition via the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway — paracetamol reduces prostaglandin levels mainly in the central nervous system, relieving pain and resetting the hypothalamic fever set-point.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Penicillin can bring an infection-related fever to an end, but it is not classified as an antipyretic. Why ?

  • (a)Because it has no effect on the body at all
  • (b)Because it lowers fever only by killing/inhibiting the bacteria causing the infection, not by directly acting on the body's temperature-regulating centre
  • (c)Because it only works on viral infections
  • (d)Because it is banned for fever treatment

  Answer(b) Because it lowers fever only by killing/inhibiting the bacteria causing the infection, not by directly acting on the body's temperature-regulating centre — a true antipyretic like paracetamol acts directly on the hypothalamic fever set-point, which penicillin does not.