Final answer:
Disinfectants are used on nonliving surfaces to reduce microbes, whereas antiseptics are safe for living tissues. Sterilization removes all microorganisms, outperforming both sanitization, which lowers microbes to safe levels, and degerming, which removes microbes from a specific area.
Step-by-step explanation:
The difference between a disinfectant and an antiseptic lies in their application. Disinfectants are antimicrobial agents designed to be applied to nonliving surfaces to reduce the number of microbes on their surfaces, whereas antiseptics are safe for use on living tissues.
Sterilization is a more rigorous process of killing or removing all microorganisms, including vegetative cells, viruses, and endospores. This is achieved by physical means like high heat or pressure, or chemical sterilants. In a healthcare setting, chemicals that act as high-level germicides are capable of leading to sterilization by killing a wide spectrum of microbes.