Infection prevention 2

Question 1

What are the types of direct transmission?

Answer 1

• Direct contact
• Droplet contamination.

Question 2

What are the types of indirect transmission?

Answer 2

• Airborne
• vehicle
• vector
• fomites.

Question 3

What is direct contact transmission?

Answer 3

Occurs when a person or an animal with a disease or their blood or body fluids are touched. It includes skin-to-skin contact, kissing, sexual intercourse, and percutaneous injection.

Question 4

What is droplet spread?

Answer 4

• Refers to spray with relatively large, short-range aerosols produced by sneezing, coughing, or even talking.
• It involves contact with infectious secretions expelled from the conjunctiva, nose, or mouth of a host or disease carrier.

Question 5

what is a fomite

Answer 5

• An object that has been in contact with pathogenic organisms.

Examples include contaminated urinary catheters, x-ray tables, image receptors, positioning sponges, gloves, dressings, instruments, handkerchiefs, bedding, or surgical scalpels.

Question 6

What are vectors?

Answer 6

• Insects or animal carriers of disease that deposit diseased microbes by stinging or biting the human host.
• Examples include mosquitoes (malaria, dengue fever), fleas (bubonic plague), and ticks (Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever).

Question 7

What is a vehicle in the context of disease transmission?

Answer 7

• Any medium that transports microorganisms.
• Examples include contaminated food, water, drugs, or blood contaminated with infectious microorganisms.

Question 8

What is airborne contamination?

Answer 8

Occurs when infectious agents are carried by dust that contains spores or droplet nuclei suspended in air.

Question 9

What are droplet nuclei?

Answer 9

• Dried residue of less than 5 microns (0.001mm) in size.
• Unlike droplets that fall to the ground within a few feet, droplet nuclei may remain suspended in the air for long periods and may be blown over great distances.

Question 10

Give an example of a disease that can be spread by airborne contamination.

Answer 10

• Measles, which can remain suspended in the air and be inhaled by a susceptible host even after the infected person has left the area.

Question 11

What is a portal of entry?

Answer 11

• A route by which microorganisms gain access into the susceptible host.
• It must provide access to tissues where the pathogen can multiply or a toxin can act.

Question 12

What are some common portals of entry for pathogens?

Answer 12

Respiratory,
urinary, and
gastrointestinal tracts,
an open wound or break in the skin,
ingestion,
inhalation,
injection,
vagina,
rectum,
urethra,
mucous membranes of the eyes,
nose, or
mouth, and
the bloodstream.
In pregnant women, pathogens can also cross the placenta.

Question 13

What is a susceptible host?

Answer 13

• The final link in the chain of infection, a susceptible host is someone who has reduced natural resistance to infection.
• Their body defense mechanisms are unable to withstand the invasion of pathogens at the time of exposure.

Question 14

What factors influence the susceptibility of a host to infection?

Answer 14

• Age,
• immune status
• nutritional status,
• chronic or active disease history,
• sex,
• ethnicity
• socioeconomic status
• lifestyle, and genetic makeup.

Question 15

What are some interventions for infection prevention?

Answer 15

• Sanitation techniques (e.g., water purification, disposal of sewage),
• Regulated health practices (e.g., handling, storage, and preparation of food),
• Immunization programs.