SUR 131

Substance commonly used on living tissue to inhibit the growth and reproduction of microbes to prevent infection.

Absence of pathogenic microorganisms.

Methods practiced by the surgical team to prevent microbial contamination of the surgical environment.

Substance that destroys/kills bacteria.

Substance that inhibits the growth and reproduction of bacteria.

The number of microbes or amount of organic debris on an object at any given time

The presence of pathogenic materials.

The contamination of a person or object by another.

To reduc to an irreducible minimum the presence of pathogenic material.

Chemical agent that kills most microbes, but usually not spores; usually based on inanimate objects because these compounds are too strong to be used on living tissues.

Sterility determined by how a package is handled rather than time elapsed; a package is considered sterile until opened or the integrity of packaging material is damaged.

Inanimate object that harbors microorganisms.

Agent that destroys fungus.

Invasion of the human body or tissue by pathogenic microorganisms that reproduce and mulitiply, causin disease.

Infection acquired within a health care facility.

Any microbe capable of causing disease.

Microbes that normally reside below the skin surface or within the body.

Infection, usually accompanied by fever, that results from the presence of pathogenic microorganisms.

A resistant form of certain types of bacteria that are able to survive in adverse condition.

Substance that kills/destroys bacteria in the spore stage.

Having been rendered free of all living microorganisms, including spores.

Specified area, usually the area immediately around the patient, that is considered free of microorganisms.

Techniques of creating a sterile field fand performing within the sterile field to keep microbes at an irreducible minimum.

The destruction of all microorganisms, including spores, on inanimate surfaces through the use of steam or chemical sterilization, electron bombardment, or irradiation.

Contamination of a sterile field that occurs through the passage of fluid through, or a puncture in, a microbial barrier.

Mechanically cleaned and chemically disinfected but not sterile.

To render items safe to handle by high-level disinfection.

To render items safe to handle by sterilization.

Microbes that reside on the skin surface and are easily removed.

Living carrier that transmits disease.

Agent that destroys viruses.