Disinfect & Sterilize Flashcards
Disinfection
Elimination of pathogens, except spores, from inanimate objects
Disinfectants
- Chemical solutions or physical process used to clean inanimate objects.
- Destroy vegetative form, may not be effective on spore forms.
Disinfection time
Time req for agent to produce its max effect
Germicides
Chemicals that can be applied to both animate (living) & inanimate object for the purpose of eliminating pathogens
Antiseptics
- Formulated for application to living tissue to kill microbes.
- They cannot damage living tissue.
- Less toxic than disinfectants.
Sterilization
A process that destroys all viable microbes, including viruses & endospores
Sanitization
Hint: this may not sterilize
Any cleansing tech that mechanically removes microbes
What is particularly resistant to environmental disinfectants?
A. Clostridium difficile (spores)
B. Lepto (G- bacteria)
C. Canine flu (enveloped virus)
D. Staph (G+ bacteria)
A. Clostridium difficile, AKA spores!
T/F: Disinfection destroys all forms of microbiological life, while sterilization does not
True!
An area with moderate organic material that has housed animals with parvovirus should be cleaned with what?
Accelerate H2O2. Like Rescue!
“Spectrum of activity” describes what?
Disinfectants
T/F: Effective cleaning and disinfection are important to ensure safe environments for ppl & animals only when organisms persist for several days w/o cleaning
False! It’s important when there are any forms of infectious organisms present (whether or not they persist for short periods or long)
Will it take disinfection longer or a shorter amount of time to work in areas that are below room temp?
It will take longer than normal
Inaccurate dilution of disinfectants is a problem if the resulting mixture is..?
Too dilute or too concentrated
