Infection control

The whole, undamaged state of a sterile package's wrapper, seals, locks and dust cover, checked before the package is opened.

An outbreak of disease that spreads across several countries or continents and affects very many people.

Powered air-purifying respirator: a respirator with a battery fan that pushes filtered air into a hood or mask.

A living thing that lives on or in another living thing and gets its food from it, often causing harm.

A symbiosis in which one living thing, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host, which is harmed.

Protection from ready-made antibodies a person receives instead of making them, which works at once but lasts only a while.

A germ, such as a bacterium, virus, fungus or parasite, that can cause disease.

Polymerase chain reaction: a lab method that copies tiny amounts of genetic material so a germ or a gene can be detected.

Infestation with lice, tiny wingless insects that live on the body and feed on blood.

A see-through sterilization package with one plastic side and one side of paper or Tyvek, sealed at the edges and peeled open.

Infection of the female upper reproductive organs: the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries.

A group of antibiotics, including penicillin and amoxicillin, that kill bacteria by stopping them from building their cell walls.

A strong oxidizing chemical used to sterilize or high-level disinfect heat-sensitive items, such as scopes, at low temperature.

A double-glove system with a colored inner glove, so a hole in the outer glove shows up as a spot of color.

A cream or lotion put on the skin or hair to kill lice and the mites that cause scabies.

Gear worn to protect a health worker from germs and body fluids, such as gloves, gowns, masks, respirators and eye protection.

A very contagious infection of the airways caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis; also called whooping cough.

A disinfectant made from phenol (carbolic acid) or its relatives, used diluted on floors, counters and other large surfaces.

Hairlike strands of protein on many bacteria that help them cling to surfaces or pass DNA to another bacterium; in anatomy, pili simply means hairs.

A small ring of extra DNA in a bacterium, separate from its chromosome, that often carries genes for resisting antibiotics.

An infection of one or both lungs in which the air sacs fill with fluid or pus.

The first step of reprocessing, done in the OR during and right after the case, to keep soil from drying on instruments.

The way a germ gets into a new host, such as broken skin, a mucous membrane, a catheter or an incision; the fifth link in the chain of infection.

The way a germ leaves its reservoir, such as in blood, stool, urine, respiratory secretions or wound drainage; the third link in the chain of infection.

Air pressure in a room kept higher than in the spaces around it, so air flows out of the room, not in, when a door opens.

Happening after a person has been exposed to an infection, poison or other hazard.

A brown antiseptic solution of iodine used to kill germs on the skin before procedures and on wounds.

A step taken ahead of time to prevent harm, such as the infection-control practices used with every client.

An infectious protein, a normal brain protein folded into the wrong shape, that causes fatal brain diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

A test pack built to be hard to sterilize, holding a biological or chemical indicator, used to challenge a sterilizer cycle.

Relating to the early stage of a disease, when vague warning symptoms such as tiredness, a mild fever and aches come before the full illness.

A one-celled living thing with no nucleus and no membrane-wrapped organelles, its DNA lying loose in the cell: the bacteria and the archaea.

Treatment given to prevent a disease or problem, rather than to treat one that is already present.

A special hospital room and set of precautions that keep germs away from a client whose immune system is very weak.

Goggles, a face shield or laser glasses worn to keep splashes, sprays, debris or laser light from injuring the eyes.

Tiny living things made of a single cell with a nucleus, some of which cause disease in people.

Tuberculosis of the lungs, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Containing or made of pus: thick, cloudy fluid that may be yellow, green, tan or brown.

Thick fluid made of white blood cells, dead tissue and germs that collects at a site of infection.

A word part that means pus.

A bacterial infection of the kidney, usually spread up from the bladder.