Breaking the Chain of Transmission

Question 1

Why do we encourage microbial growth in a laboratory?

Answer 1

to identify the pathogen and test antimicrobial agents

Question 2

What is the medium in which we grow bacteria?

Answer 2

agar

Question 3

What is the purpose of sterilization?

Answer 3

inhibit the growth of microbes in vitro

Question 4

What is the thermal death point?

Answer 4

lowest temperature needed to kill all the organisms

Question 5

What is the thermal death time?

Answer 5

length of time needed to sterilize at a specific temperature?

Question 6

What are the physical methods of sterilization?

Answer 6

heat (moist and dry) and ethylene oxide autoclave

Question 7

What type of microbe cannot be killed in an autoclave?

Answer 7

prions

Question 8

What microbes does disinfection kill?

Answer 8

most of them - except spores

Question 9

What do you call solutions to disinfect skin?

Answer 9

antiseptics

Question 10

What is the reduction of microbes to a safe level??

Answer 10

sanitization

Question 11

What are the suffixes that refer to killing?

Answer 11

-cide / -cidal

Question 12

What are the 5 factors which affect disinfection?

Answer 12

time, temperature, concentration, presence of proteins, microbe (type, number, presence)

Question 13

How do we disinfect liquids?

Answer 13

pasteurization (milk and cider) and boiling

Question 14

What type of alcohol is in hand sanitizers?

Answer 14

isopropranol

Question 15

How does alcohol disinfect?

Answer 15

denatures protein

Question 16

What is the clinical name for bleach?

Answer 16

hypochlorite

Question 17

What is bleach for?

Answer 17

surface water purification, labs, swimming pools, etc

Question 18

How do iodophors (iodine) disinfect?

Answer 18

goes thru cell wall of microbes and diripts protein and nucleic acid; blocks viral attachments

Question 19

What are iodophors primarily used for?

Answer 19

antiseptic on skin or tissue prior to surgery

Question 20

Which disinfectant is used for preservative uses?

Answer 20

formaldehyde

Question 21

What disinfectant has surfactant and detergent properties?

Answer 21

quaternary ammonium

Question 22

How does quaternary ammonium disinfect?

Answer 22

their positively charged molecules reacts with the negatively charged cell wall

Question 23

Which disinfectant is non-corrosive to metal?

Answer 23

quaternary ammonium

Question 24

Which disinfectant is used on medical equipment that cannot be heat sterilized?

Answer 24

glutaraldehyde

Question 25

What are phenolics used for?

Answer 25

hospital and home environments cleaning supplies (and mouthwash)

Question 26

How do phenolics disinfect?

Answer 26

disrupts the cell wall of microbes causing lysis

Question 27

What is hydrogen peroxide used for?

Answer 27

it is a mild antiseptic for minor cuts, burns, mouth irritations

Question 28

What are the three methods of disinfection and sterilizations?

Answer 28

physical agents (heat and radiation); chemical agents (gases and liquids); and mechanical removal (filtration)

Question 29

What are hospital acquired infections?

Answer 29

infection originating in a patient while in a hospital; it is new and unrelated to the patient’s primary condition

Question 30

What are the three major factors that combine to cause HAIs?

Answer 30

increased # of drug resistant pathogens. failure of healthcare personnel to follow infection control guidelines, increased # of immunocompromised patients

Question 31

What are bacteria that are resistant to a NUMBER of different antibiotics?

Answer 31

multiple resistant organism (superbug!)

Question 32

What are the two risk factors for getting MROs?

Answer 32

frequent use of antibiotics and recent hospitalizations

Question 33

How do we eliminate the chain of transmission?

Answer 33

environmental cleaning/disinfection