Infection control

Clostridioides difficile, a spore-forming bacterium that can infect the colon (the large intestine).

A group of yeasts that normally live on the skin and in the mouth, gut and vagina and can overgrow to cause infection.

An infection caused by Candida, a yeast (a kind of fungus).

A cluster of boils joined under the skin: a deep infection of several neighboring hair follicles.

A urinary tract infection that develops in a person who has, or recently had, a urinary catheter in place.

An infection of the blood that comes from germs entering through an intravenous catheter.

A protein on the surface of helper T cells; a CD4 count measures how many of these immune cells are in the blood.

A blood test that counts CD4 T cells, the white blood cells that HIV infects and destroys.

A marker on the surface of cytotoxic (killer) T cells, the white blood cells that destroy infected and cancer cells; also those cells themselves.

A third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic given by injection into a vein or muscle.

A stiff layer outside the cell membrane of bacteria, fungi and plants that gives the cell its shape; human and other animal cells have none.

A bacterial infection of the deeper layers of the skin and the tissue just under it.

The United States government agency that studies disease and sets national guidance on preventing and controlling it.

A first-generation cephalosporin antibiotic taken by mouth for skin, urinary, ear and other bacterial infections.

A large group of antibiotics related to penicillin that kill bacteria by damaging their cell walls.

The six links an infection needs to pass to a new person: the germ, its reservoir, a way out, a way to travel, a way in and a host it can infect.

An ink or strip that changes color when exposed to one or more conditions of a sterilization cycle, such as temperature or steam.

A sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis; also the name of the bacterium.

An antiseptic that kills a wide range of germs on the skin and keeps working after it dries, used for skin preps, scrubs and preoperative baths.

A Class I surgical wound: no infection or inflammation is found, and the respiratory, digestive, genital and urinary tracts are not entered.

A round or oval bacterium; the plural is cocci.

Having germs living on or in the body without causing illness.

A relationship between two living things in which one benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

A mild viral infection of the nose and throat.

Able to be passed from one person, or animal, to another.

A disease that can spread from one person, or animal, to another.

Pneumonia that a person develops outside a hospital or long-term care facility.

Cleaning up blood, body fluid and other soil on the floor and nonsterile surfaces while a surgical case is still going on.

Water that forms when steam cools and turns back into liquid, as it does on instruments and packs during steam sterilization.

A wart on or near the genitals or anus; condyloma acuminatum, the common genital wart, is caused by human papillomavirus.

Inflammation of the thin, clear layer that covers the white of the eye and lines the inside of the eyelids.

Infection control steps, used on top of standard precautions, for germs that spread by touching the client or things around them.

How long a disinfectant must stay wet on a surface to kill the germs its label names.

The presence of germs or harmful substances on something that should be clean or sterile.

The period of recovery after an illness or an operation, as the body returns to normal.

One of a family of viruses with crown-like spikes on their surface that infect the airways.

COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019: an infectious illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

A rare brain disease caused by prions that destroys the brain quickly and is always fatal.

In the Spaulding classification, an item that enters sterile tissue or the bloodstream, so it must be sterile.

The area of a surgical gown where contact with blood and body fluids is most likely, usually the front from chest to knees and the sleeves.

The passing of germs from one person, object or place to another, such as from a contaminated item to a sterile one or between patients.

A lab test that grows the germs from a sample to identify them and see which antibiotics work against them.

A common virus of the herpes family that stays in the body for life after infection.