[Lec] Infection Control Flashcards
A condition that results when a microbe invades the body, multiplies, and causes injury or disease
Infection
Involves implementing procedures and policies that prevent infection. Starts with an understanding of the process of infection. Measures to prevent the spread of infection
Infection Control
Able to spread from person to person
Communicable infections
Infections acquired in hospitals
Nosocomial infection
Infection acquired from medical devices
Healthcare-associated infection
Ability of microbes to develop resistance to specific antibiotics
Antibiotic-resistant infections
Also called causative agent, is the pathogenic microbe responsible for causing an infection
Infectious agent
Source of an infectious agent. Place where microbe can survive, grow, or multiply. Includes humans, animals, food, water, soil, and contaminated articles and equipment
Reservoir
Way for infectious agent to leave a reservoir host. Ex. Secretions, excretions, exudates, tissue specimens
Exit pathway
Method an infectious agent uses to travel from a reservoir to a susceptible individual. Ex. Airborne, contact, droplet, vector, vehicle
Means of transmission
Dispersal of infectious agents that can remain infective for long periods of time in particles that are typically less than 5 micrometers in diameter and can be inhaled. Ex sneezing, coughing, talking, producing aerosol
Airborne transmission
Most common means of transmitting infection
Contact transmission
2 types of contact transmission
- Direct
- Indirect
Transfer of an infectious agent to the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, or conjunctiva of the eyes of a susceptible individual via infectious droplets
Droplet transmission
Transfer of an infectious agent carried by an insect, arthropod, of animal
Vector transmission