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JustSikh t1_is1qjx3 wrote

Reply to comment by Majestic_Electric in Antibiotic found in potato disease thwarts fungal infections by Sariel007

Medical Microbiologist/Pharmacologist here and I was taught:

  1. Antibiotic is any compound that kills living organisms which include bacteria, fungi and other pathogens;

  2. Antimicrobial is any compound that kills small living organisms such as microbes;

  3. Antibacterial is any compound that specifically kills bacteria.

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Majestic_Electric t1_is1r9zi wrote

I’ve heard antibiotic and antibacterial being used interchangeably, so that makes a lot more sense! Thanks for the explanation!

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dankpiece t1_is2963m wrote

So you could say an antibiotic can be used to treat viruses? That's confusing

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MOdruid t1_is2fmca wrote

Only if you consider viruses a living organism, which no one reasonable does.

So no, no one who knows what they're talking about would say that.

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Majestic_Electric t1_is2zq0k wrote

Viruses aren’t considered living creatures because they can’t reproduce on their own (they need to hijack an animal cell to do it). So no, it wouldn’t work on viruses. For this reason, doctors won’t (and shouldn’t) prescribe antibiotics to treat a viral infection.

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HinaEater t1_is4mp74 wrote

No. Biotic= life. Virus= not really classified as living.

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tehtimman t1_is41yfw wrote

What is your definition of a microbe then?

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