Re:World on cusp of 'post-antibiotic era'
by cstross on Thursday November 19, 2015 @02:32PM
(#10596972)
>(as far as I know, antibiotic and antibacterial are largely synonymous)
Not really.
Antimicrobial: an agent that kills bacteria or fungi.
Antibiotic: an agent that kills bacteria or fungi in the body.
This is a crucial distinction. Phenols have been around as antimicrobial disinfectants for over a century and a half, but you really don't want to take them internally. Whereas something like penicillin VK -- alas, no longer very useful due to widespread resistance -- is pretty much safe to take in large doses, unless an immune response arises.
We've got plenty of antimicrobial agents; what we're short on are ones that don't poison us along with the target organisms when we take them.
Not really.
Antimicrobial: an agent that kills bacteria or fungi.
Antibiotic: an agent that kills bacteria or fungi in the body.
This is a crucial distinction. Phenols have been around as antimicrobial disinfectants for over a century and a half, but you really don't want to take them internally. Whereas something like penicillin VK -- alas, no longer very useful due to widespread resistance -- is pretty much safe to take in large doses, unless an immune response arises.
We've got plenty of antimicrobial agents; what we're short on are ones that don't poison us along with the target organisms when we take them.