Question

What is the best explanation for why a bacteriostatic treatment might be chosen over a bacteriocidal treatment?

Group of answer choices

Bacteriostatic treatments are typically more costly than bacteriocidal treatments.

Bacteriostatic treatments will prevent all bacterial growth, while bacteriocidal treatments will permit some bacterial growth.

Bacteriostatic treatments typically have lower toxicity to the host when compared to bacteriocidal treatments.

Bacteriostatic treatments will eliminate all bacteria while bacteriocidal treatments will only eliminate a portion of the bacteria.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

Many of us are familiar with term “antibacterial” – the type of technologies that are widely used to treat fabrics, plastics and coatings to prevent bacteria.

They work by inhibiting the growth of and/or destroying unwanted microorganisms that are growing and replicating on surfaces or in fabrics.

These agents are well known for actively helping to keep surfaces cleaner, reducing odours and making product last longer; however, what is less commonly known is that products that help us control these microorganisms are divided into two general categories: bactericidal and bacteriostatic.

When you say each of the category titles out loud, they sound quite similar; however, there are specific defining features that help us to categorize different types of antimicrobials.

While we discuss what makes each category unique, it is important to keep in mind that at a certain level (or dosage) the “lines” may become blurred as to which of these categories the antibiotic truly belongs in.

For example, if the concentration of a bacteriostatic treatment is particularly high, it may perform in ways that are more reflective of the characteristics you would expect to see in a bactericidal, however, this does not mean the technology is inherently bactericidal.