microbicide

[mahy-kroh-buh-sahyd]

noun

1. a substance or preparation for killing microbes.

Other Word Forms

• microbicidal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of microbicide¹

First recorded in 1880–85; microbe + -i- + -cide

Example Sentences

They discovered that a microbicide—a compound to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted infections—containing the drug tenofovir was effective in the 61% of women who had predominantly “healthy” bacteria in their vaginas.

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So yes, washing your just-withdrawn penis with a potent microbicide could be somewhat helpful in stopping spread of STDs.

Read more on Salon

The Aspire study, led by the Microbicide Trials Network, which is financed by the National Institutes of Health, enrolled 2,629 women at 15 sites in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

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Maraviroc is currently approved as an HIV drug, and is being considered as a microbicide to try to stop infection in the first place.

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Here are three of the microbicide options in development today.

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