An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their increase. Antimicrobial drugs may be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals are used against fungi. They also can be categorized according to their characteristic. Agents that kill microbes are microbicidal, even as those who merely inhibit their boom are known as biostatic. The use of antimicrobial drug treatments to treat contamination is referred to as antimicrobial chemotherapy, whilst the usage of antimicrobial drugs to prevent contamination is called antimicrobial prophylaxis. The main training of antimicrobial agents are disinfectants which kill a wide range of microbes on non-living surfaces to prevent the spread of illness, antiseptics and antibiotics. The term "antibiotic" at first described only the ones formulations derived from living microorganisms however is now additionally carried out to artificial agents, consisting of sulfonamides or fluoroquinolones. The term also used to be restricted to antibacterials, however its context has broadened to consist of all antimicrobials. Antibacterial dealers can be further subdivided into bactericidal agents, which kill bacteria, and bacteriostatic agents, which slow down or stall bacterial growth. In reaction, further advancements in antimicrobial technologies have resulted in answers which can cross past simply inhibiting microbial boom. Rather, positive types of porous media were developed to kill microbes on touch.