system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does boiling water in a low pressure atmosphere still kill pathogens?

Reducing the atmospheric pressure will reduce the boiling temperature of water, so will boiling in low pressure still kill pathogens in the water?
gpt
One of the reasons boiling water works to kill pathogens is the denarurarion of protein, and the disruption of phospholipid bilayers with increasing temperature. These elements of physical biochemistry are linked to temperature, not the evaporation of the water.

This means that as you enter a lower pressure environment, boiling will be less effective. However, both of these processes start at comparatively low temperatures (~45°C, which is why slow cooking works), and depend on the pathogen in question.

To extend the concept, some places (including hospitals) use high temperature and pressure steam to sterilize equipment for surgical use (the devices used for this are called autoclaves).

*tl:dr* ability to remove pathogen is bases in temperature, so boiling at lower pressure will work less well.