Part 1 Flashcards
Application of an agent to living
tissue for the purpose of preventing
infection
Antisepsis
Destruction or marked reduction in
the number or activity of
microorganisms
Decontamination
Chemical or physical treatment that
destroys most vegetative microbes
or viruses, but not spores, in or on
inanimate surfaces
Disinfection
Reduction of microbial load on an
inanimate surface to a level
considered acceptable for public
health purposes
Sanitization
A process intended to kill or remove
all types of microorganisms,
including spores, and usually
including viruses with an acceptably
low probability of survival
Sterilization
A process that kills nonsporulating
microorganisms by hot water or
steam at 65°C–100°C
Pasteurization
He used phenol (carbolic acid) as a
wash for the hands, as a spray on an incision site, and on
bandages applied to wounds.
Joseph Lister
His goal was to develop compounds that retained antimicro-
bial activity at the expense of toxicity to the human host; he
called the agents that he sought “magic bullets.”
Paul Ehrlich
the property of certain
chemicals to kill one type of organism while not harming
another.
Selective toxicity
He discovered compound 606
Paul Ehrlich
Until the 1920s, most successful anti-infective agents
were
group-IIB element mercury and the
group-VA elements arsenic and antimony
Examples of disinfectant resistant microorganisms
Spores, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or Serratia marcescens
Most topical antiseptics do not interfere with wound healing T/F
False (they interfere with wound healing)
Two most commonly used alcohols for antiseptics/disinfectant
Ethyl and isopropyl
As the primary alcohol chain length increases, van der Waals interactions increase, and the ability to penetrate microbial membranes increases. T/F
True
