Outbreak Flashcards
What is a healthcare associated infection?
A healthcare associated infection (HAI) is an infection that you might catch when receiving care in hospital, care homes, doctors surgeries, health centres or when receiving care at home
What are the most common kinds of healthcare associated infection?
Urine infections
Post-surgical infections
Skin infections
Sickness and diarrhoea
How is an outbreak of an infection defined?
An outbreak of an infection is defined as two or more cases of an infection linked in time and place.
Describe the chain of infection
Infectious agent (bacteria, virus, fungus, prion)
- Reservoir (humans, equipment, environment, food or animals)
- Portal of exit (blood and body fluids, skin, scales or wounds, coughing/sneezing)
- Mode of transmission (direct or indirect, inhalation, ingestion of contaminated food)
- Portal of entry (skin or surgical wounds, eyes/mouth, respiratory or GI tract, tubes)
- Susceptible host (underdeveloped immune system, decreasing immune system, drugs or diseases, tubes)
What transmission based precautions can be done?
Gloves
Apron
Contact
What precautions are taken in droplet and airborne infections?
Gloves
Aprons
Masks
Eye protection
What is the difference between droplets and aerosols?
Droplets are anything >5µm and aerosols are anything <5µm.
Spread of droplets is assumed to be confined to about 1m, whereas aerosols are much more widespread
What is the difference between cleaning, sterilisation and disinfection?
Cleaning refers to physical removal of organic waste. Disinfection refers to a large reduction in microbe numbers, and sterilisation refers to a total removal of microbes
How is disinfection and sterilisation achieved?
Disinfection can be achieved with heat or chemicals. Sterilisation can be achieved through steam under pressure (autoclave), hot air oven, gas or ionising radiation.
