Biological Agents
Biological agents (bacteria, viruses, parasites) may have different dosage units. This is because it is the ability of the organism to cause effects that is the important unit, not a specific quantity by weight, volume, or even numerical count. Often, the unit used is CFU (colony forming units), which is proportionate to the number of organisms present multiplied times the number able to reproduce on a culture medium such as a Petri dish.
Read more about this topic: Dose (biochemistry)
Famous quotes containing the words biological and/or agents:
“I am fifty-two years of age. I am a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a few people might be constrained to say that I was reasonably responsible. In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute—a white skin.”
—Desmond Tutu (b. 1931)
“Luckless is the country in which the symbols of procreation are the objects of shame, while the agents of destruction are honored! And yet you call that member your pudendum, or shameful part, as if there were anything more glorious than creating life, or anything more atrocious than taking it away.”
—Savinien Cyrano De Bergerac (1619–1655)