Microbiology
The capacity of an antimicrobial to eliminate all microbes from the environment regardless of dose, which ensures complete sterilization of host tissues while preventing toxicity.
The mechanism by which drugs are metabolized only by pathogens and never by host enzymes, guaranteeing no host exposure to active compounds.
The ability of a drug to inhibit or kill pathogens at doses that cause minimal or acceptable harm to the host by exploiting differences between pathogen and host biology.
The property of a drug to target any molecule within a pathogen whether or not a similar molecule exists in the host, relying on higher dosing to overcome host similarity.