Infection control

Severe acute respiratory syndrome: a lung infection caused by a coronavirus, first seen in 2002–2003.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus: the virus that caused the SARS outbreak of 2002–2004.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2: the virus that causes COVID-19.

A skin infestation by tiny mites that burrow into the top layer of the skin.

An infection with group A strep bacteria in which a toxin made by the bacteria causes a red rash over the body.

Safety Data Sheet: a document that describes a chemical product's hazards and how to handle it safely.

A second, separately draped Mayo stand kept for one part of a case, such as the open bowel or a tumor, so its instruments stay apart from the clean setup.

The thick, whitish fluid released from the penis in ejaculation, made of sperm and the secretions of the male glands.

The middle zone of the surgical suite, entered only in surgical attire with the hair covered, that leads to the operating rooms.

A severe whole-body response to an infection that damages the body's own organs.

The most severe stage of sepsis, in which the circulation fails and blood pressure stays low even after IV fluids.

An infection passed from one person to another mainly through sexual contact.

Items that can cut or puncture skin, such as suture and hypodermic needles, scalpel blades, electrosurgical tips, saw blades and pins.

A rigid, puncture-resistant, leak-proof box marked with the biohazard symbol, into which used needles, blades and other sharps go.

A medical device its maker labels to be used on one patient during one procedure and then thrown away.

Cleaning the skin over and around the surgical site with an antiseptic just before draping, to bring its germs down to the fewest possible.

A machine that pulls surgical smoke away from the field through a wand or tube and cleans it through filters.

The chemical in household bleach, a fast, inexpensive disinfectant whose strength depends on how much it is diluted.

Knowing at every moment where the sterile and nonsterile people, surfaces and items around you are, so you never touch or brush the wrong one.

A system that sorts patient-care items into critical, semicritical and noncritical by their infection risk, to set how each must be processed.

A long, thin, flexible bacterium shaped like a loose spiral, such as the germs of syphilis and Lyme disease.

A tough, resting form that some bacteria and fungi make, able to survive heat, drying and many cleaning products.

Describes bacteria able to make spores, tough resting forms that survive heat, drying and many disinfectants.

Able to kill bacterial spores, the tough resting forms of some bacteria.

A lab test that grows germs from mucus coughed up from the lungs, to find out which germ is present.

Flakes of dead skin that people shed into the air all the time, which can carry bacteria onto a sterile field.

An abbreviation that can mean surgical site infection or sliding scale insulin.

The basic infection-control practices used with every client, whether or not an infection is known.

A group of round bacteria that grow in grape-like clusters and often live on the skin and in the nose.

A common round bacterium that often lives on the skin and in the nose and can cause infection.

A gram-positive coccus in clusters that normally lives on the skin and is a leading cause of infection on implants, catheters and shunts.

Sterilizing items with saturated steam under pressure, which kills every germ, spores included, by heat and moisture.

A pressurized chamber that sterilizes items with saturated steam; also called an autoclave.

A chemical that kills all forms of microbial life, including bacterial spores.

Free of all living microorganisms; also, unable to have children.

The sterile gown and gloves a sterile team member wears over surgical attire to work at the sterile field.

Replacing a dressing on a wound or line site using sterile technique and sterile supplies.

An area set up with sterile drapes and supplies, kept free of all germs, for a sterile procedure.

A glove that has been sterilized and packed so it can touch a sterile field or an open body area without bringing in germs.

A sterilized wraparound surgical gown that sterile team members wear over scrub attire as a barrier between themselves and the sterile field.

The hospital department that cleans, inspects, packages, sterilizes, stores and sends out reusable instruments and supplies.

A member of the surgical team who has done surgical hand antisepsis, wears a sterile gown and gloves, and works inside the sterile field.

The state of being completely free of living germs, including spores; also, being unable to have children.

A process that destroys all microorganisms, including spores, on an item; also a permanent birth control procedure.

One complete run of a sterilizer through its set phases, time and temperature, from the loaded chamber to a sterile, dry load.

A sheet of woven or nonwoven material folded around an instrument set or item so the sterilant gets in and germs stay out afterward.

A machine that kills all germs, including spores, on instruments and supplies.

A lab test that grows germs from a stool sample to find the bacteria causing an infection.

A group of round bacteria that grow in chains, some of which cause infections in people.

The pneumococcus, an encapsulated gram-positive coccus that is a leading cause of pneumonia, middle ear infection and meningitis.