antimicrobial agent, any of a large variety of chemical compounds and physical agents that are used to destroy microorganisms or to prevent their development.

The production and use of the antibiotic penicillin in the early 1940s became the basis for the era of modern antimicrobial therapy. Streptomycin was discovered in 1944, and since then many other antibiotics and other types of antimicrobials have been found and put into use. A major discovery following the introduction of these agents into medicine was the finding that their basic structure could be modified chemically to improve their characteristics. Thus, antimicrobial agents that are used in the treatment of disease include synthetic chemicals as well as chemical substances or metabolic products made by microorganisms and chemical substances derived from plants.

The term antibiotic is popularly used to refer to drugs that combat microbes, but, strictly speaking, it refers only to drugs that kill or inhibit bacteria.

Antiseptics and germicides

The term antiseptic refers to agents applied to the living tissues of humans, other animals, and plants in order to destroy (bactericidal) or inhibit the growth (bacteriostatic) of infectious microorganisms. Antiseptics are used in medical practice to prevent or combat bacterial infections of superficial tissues and to sterilize instruments and infected material. A distinction must be made between antiseptics and chemotherapeutic agents, such as antibiotics and sulfonamides, which are administered by mouth or by injection for the treatment of internal or generalized infections but may also be applied locally in the treatment or prevention of superficial infections. (See antibiotic.)

Many chemical compounds can kill bacteria, but many of them also exhibit properties that limit or prohibit their use. Most antiseptics are general protoplasmic poisons and if used in sufficient concentration are harmful to the body’s cells and tissues as well as to bacteria. Thus, an antiseptic is most valuable in the disinfection of contaminated wounds or skin surfaces when there is a wide margin between its bactericidal and toxic concentrations. When an antiseptic is to be used to disinfect contaminated instruments or other inanimate objects, however, its toxic properties are not important, and many compounds (called disinfectants) may be used that cannot be applied to living tissues. The term disinfectant thus refers to substances that are used to destroy microorganisms on inanimate surfaces—e.g., surgical instruments, floors, and walls. Antiseptics, disinfectants, and antibiotics are all germicides; i.e., they are all substances that kill microorganisms.

The efficiency of an antiseptic must be measured in relation to three main factors: concentration, time, and temperature. It is desirable to know the minimum concentration at which an antiseptic will be effective. Some antiseptics such as phenol lose their activity sharply beyond a certain dilution, whereas mercurial preparations still inhibit bacterial growth at very high dilutions. The time that an antiseptic takes to act depends to some extent on its concentration, but the speed at which different antiseptics kill bacteria varies considerably; thus, the halogens (e.g., iodine and chlorine salts) act quickly, whereas mercurials, compounds of heavy metals, and dyes act slowly. Most antiseptics act more quickly under increased temperatures; the activity of coal tar derivatives, for instance, is doubled by a rise in temperature from that of a cool room to body heat. Many antiseptics destroy certain types of microorganisms and not others. Many others will kill bacteria but not their spores, which are walled, usually dormant, reproductive bodies.

Alcohols are among the most widely used antiseptics, especially ethyl and isopropyl alcohol, which are commonly used in a 70 percent concentration with water. They are also widely used in combination with other antiseptic agents. The phenols contain a large number of common antiseptics and disinfectants, among them phenol (carbolic acid) and creosote, while such bisphenols as hexyl resorcinol and hexachlorophene are widely used as antiseptic agents in soaps. Chlorine and iodine are both extremely effective agents and can be used in high dilution. Chlorine is widely used in the disinfection of drinking-water supplies, and among its derivatives, the hypochlorite solutions (e.g., Dakin’s solution) are used in surgical practice. Iodine is an effective disinfectant of wounds, particularly when used in an alcohol solution. The salts of most metals are generally too toxic to use on living tissues, but complex organic mercury salts (e.g., mercurochrome, merthiolate) in alcohol solution are highly bacteriostatic and make useful wound disinfectants. The quaternary ammonium compounds are more widely used as disinfectants than as antiseptics. Certain acridine dyes are used as antiseptics, as are some aromatic, or essential, oils. Most acids and alkalis either are too caustic to tissues or are relatively inefficient bactericides.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

Classification and survey of antiseptics and germicides

Antiseptics and germicides are classified and described in the table.