Evil microbe almost gets hound (6)
I believe the answer is:
badger
'hound' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'evil microbe almost' is the wordplay.
'evil' becomes 'bad' (similar in meaning).
'microbe' becomes 'germ' (synonyms).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'germ' with its final letter taken off is 'ger'.
'bad'+'ger'='BADGER'
'gets' is the link.
(Other definitions for badger that I've seen before include "A mammal; harry" , "Mammal, striped head" , "Black and white animal called Brock" , "hound perhaps?" , "Pester -- nocturnal mammal" .)