Infection control

A covering for the nose and mouth, worn to block germs or to deliver oxygen.

A very contagious illness caused by the measles virus; also called rubeola.

Clean technique: practices that lower the number of germs and stop them spreading from one person or object to another.

The everyday hand wash with soap and water that removes dirt and the germs picked up during work, rubbing for at least 20 seconds.

Inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord.

An older penicillin-type antibiotic, no longer used in treatment, whose name lives on in MRSA.

An antibiotic and antiparasitic drug that treats infections caused by anaerobic bacteria and some protozoa.

A living thing too small to see without a microscope, such as a bacterium, fungus or parasite; viruses are often included.

The study of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites; also the lab that tests for them.

A living thing too small to see without a microscope, such as a bacterium, virus, fungus or parasite.

The weakest strength at which a disinfectant still works; for a drug, the lowest blood level that gives the wanted effect.

A combination vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

The way a germ travels from where it lives to a new person.

Messenger RNA: a molecule that carries a gene's instructions from DNA to the parts of the cell that build proteins.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a staph bacterium that many common antibiotics cannot kill.

A contagious disease caused by the mumps virus that mainly infects the salivary glands in front of the ears.

An antibiotic ointment or cream used on the skin or inside the nose.

A symbiosis in which both living things benefit, as with gut bacteria that digest plant fiber we cannot and make vitamin K.

The acid-fast, rod-shaped bacterium with a waxy wall that causes tuberculosis and spreads through the air.