Creatinine, creatinine precursors or the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof are activated to function as an antibacterial agent which has broad spectrum activity and is beneficially used in a variety of applications, such as antimicrobial wound dressings, compositions for topical delivery of the antibacterial agent and for preventing and/or inhibiting the occurrence or spread of bacterial infection, as well as the growth of odor-causing bacteria, to name a few.