Antibacterial, Bactericidal, what's the difference?

Bactericidal means..any substance that kills a bacterial cell , whereas..antibacterial means..substance dat either kills or disrupts the toxic actions of a bacterial cell.

antibacterial substances are applied to a skin to prevent infection, however if infection does occur bactericidal is something that kills the infection.

From what I can tell there's not much difference between the two, however I think that maybe 'antibacterial' means it will keep bacteria at bay, whereas 'bactericidal' will just kill the bacteria. I tried looking it up on t'internet but got no joy.

There is no difference it both does the same Job, again it is just 2 different Names for the same product

I have an aunty Joan. But no relation called Bact-anything ~I am afraid.

I am going to throw a guess out there, but it is only a guess! My guess is that the makers of "antibacterial" boast it fights bacteria while the makers of bactericidal boasts it "kills" bacteria. It seem like maybe bactericidal is a little more aggressive.. but I am just guessing!

This is my take on it... Antibacterial means it keeps the germs away. Example: antibacterial soap is used to wash off germs. Bactericidal would mean that it actually KILLS the germs. That would be like your triple antibiotic creams, and things like that, that you would put on a wound, burn, etc. It would kill any germs present and keep them from multiplying and growing. As I understand it, antibacterials are for germ removal, not necessarily killing them but washing them away.

I'd say not - they both mean the same thing.