antibiotic

antibiotic is a topic covered in the Taber's Medical Dictionary.

To view the entire topic, please or purchase a subscription.

Nursing Central is the award-winning, complete mobile solution for nurses and students. Look up information on diseases, tests, and procedures; then consult the database with 5,000+ drugs or refer to 65,000+ dictionary terms. Explore these free sample topics:

Nursing Central

-- The first section of this topic is shown below --

(ant″i-bī-ot′ik)

[anti- + biotic]

1. A natural or synthetic substance that destroys microorganisms or inhibits their growth. Antibiotics are used extensively to treat infectious diseases in plants, animals, and humans.
SEE: antimicrobial drug; SEE: bacterium
2. Destructive to life.
3. Pert. to antibiosis.

-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please or purchase a subscription --