Exam 2 (Chapters 7, 11, 12, 13) Flashcards
(169 cards)
Term that refers to bacterial contamination:
sepsis
Term that refers to the absence of significant contamination:
asepsis
Term for removing and destroying all microbial life:
sterilization
What is an example of commercial sterilization?
killing C. botulinum endospores from canned goods.
This is used to destroy harmful microorganisms from fomites:
disinfection
Term for destroying harmful microorganisms from living tissue:
antisepsis
What is degerming?
mechanical removal (rather than killing) of microbes from a limited area (ex: handwashing).
This is used to lower microbial counts on eating utensils to safe levels:
sanitization
Treatments that kill microbes:
biocide (germicide)
Inhibiting, but not killing microbes:
bacteriostasis
What are some factors that affect the rate of microbial death?
number of microbes, environment, time of exposure, microbial characteristics
How does the environment affect the rate of microbial death?
Things to consider: if there is a nutrient source for the microbe (organic matter), temperature, and if biofilms are present and adhere to a substrate making them harder to kill.
What kind of microbial characteristics would effect the rate of microbial death?
cell wall components: is it gram negative? does it have mycolic acid? what are its metabolic pathways?
What are the three targets of chemical reagents on cell (antimicrobials)?
alteration of membrane permeability, damage to proteins (enzymes), damage to nucleic acids
What does the alteration of membrane permeability do to a cell?
if the lipids and proteins of the membrane are damaged, the cell contents can leak out which leads to cell death.
What does damage to proteins do to a cell?
Breaks the bonds that keep the enzymes in their three dimensional shape
What does damage to nucleic acids do to a cell?
disrupts replication and normal metabolic function (DNA makes proteins/enzymes)
What are the physical methods of microbial control?
heat (wet heat or dry heat), pasteurization (moist heat), filtration, radiation
What is one of the main benefits of using heat from microbial control?
heat denatures enzymes/proteins which destroys the 3D shape so that proteins can’t do their job
Term for the lowest temperature at which all cells in a liquid culture are killed at 10 minutes:
Thermal death point (TDP)
Term for the minimal time for all bacteria in a liquid culture to be killed at a particular temperature:
Thermal death time (TDT)
Which guidelines indicate the severity of treatment required to kill a given population of bacteria?
Thermal death point (TDP) and Thermal death time (TDT)
What is Decimal reduction time (DRT)?
minutes to kill 90% of a population at a given temperature
What does moist heat sterilization do?
denatures proteins and coagulates them like an egg white being fried