If an agent inhibits growth but does not kill, this property is described as

• A. Bacteriostatic
• B. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC)
• C. Kirby-Bauer Test
• D. Bactericidal

Answer: (A)

Stopping growth without killing means the agent is bacteriostatic. A bacteriostatic compound halts bacterial replication, allowing the immune system to clear the infection without necessarily reducing the number of live cells immediately. In contrast, bactericidal agents kill bacteria outright. The minimum inhibitory concentration is the lowest concentration that prevents visible growth in a lab test; it tells you how much is needed to inhibit growth, not whether the organism is killed. The Kirby-Bauer test uses disk diffusion to show whether bacteria are inhibited by an antibiotic, but it does not define whether the drug is static or cidal. So the described property corresponds to bacteriostatic.