Term | Definition |
Microbial Control | sterilization, disinfection, decontamination/sanitation, and antisepsis/degermation |
Sanitation | destroys all microorganisms including viruses |
Disinfection | physical process to destroy vegetative pathogens but not endospores |
Decontamination/Sanitation | mechanically removes microorganism and debris to safe levels |
Antisepsis/Degermation | reduces microbes on human skin |
Bactericide | chemical that destroys bacteria but not endospores |
Fungicide | kills fungal spores |
Virucide | chemical that inactivates viruses, specially on living tissue |
Sporicide | agent that destroys endospores |
Germicide/Microbicide | kills microorganisms |
Sepsis | growth of microorganism in the blood and tissues |
Asepsis | practice prevents entry of infectious agents into sterile tissues |
Aseptic Techniques | practiced in healthcare |
Antiseptics | agents applied to exposed skin to prevent vegetative pathogens |
Bacteristatic | prevents growth of bacteria on tissues or objects |
Fungistatic | inhibits fungal growth |
Microbistatic | controls microbes in the body |
Cell Wall | chemical agents damage by blocking synthesis or digesting cell wall |
Cytoplasmic Membrane | agents interrupt synthesis of proteins, inhibits proteins from growth and metabolism, prevents mutation multiplication |
Proteins | agents denature protein, prevents protein interaction with chemical substrate |
Boiling Water | disinfection of materials for babies, food, utensils, bedding, and clothing from sick room |
Pasteurization | disinfection of beverages like milk, wine, beer, and other beverages |
Steam Under Pressure | autoclaving, pure steam to pressures greater than 1 atmosphere to achieve sterilization |
Incineration | intense heat reduces microbes and other substances to ashes and gas |
Hot Air Oven | dry heat sterilization for destruction of endospores |
Desiccation | dehydration at room temperature |
Lyophilization | freezing and drying to preserve microorganism longer |
Radiation | energy from atomic activities dispersed at high velocity through matter or space |
Filtration | effective method to remove microbes from air and liquids |
Osmotic Pressure | never a sterilizing technique |
Antimicrobial Chemotherapy | use of drugs to control infection |
Chemotherapeutic Drug | any chemical used in treatment or relief of a disease |
Prophylaxis | drug to prevent imminent infection of a person at risk |
Antimicrobials | all-inclusive term for antimicrobial drug, regardless of origin |
Antibiotics | naturally produced by microorganism that inhibit or destroy other microorganism |
Semisynthetic Drug | chemically modified in the lab after isolation from natural sources |
Synthetic Drugs | produced entirely by chemical reactions |
Narrow Spectrum | limited, targets a specific group |
Broad Spectrum | kills many different bacteria's |
Minimum Inhibitory Concentration "MIC" | smallest concentration (highest dilution) of drug that visibly inhibits growth |
Therapeutic Index | ranked drugs 1-10, compared.10-safe choice, the lower the number the more risky |
Antimicrobial Drugs Goal | inhibit virus replication |
Excellent Selective Toxicity | blocks synthesis of bacterial cell wall "ideal" |
Drugs Toxic To Humans | act upon infective agent and host cell "cell membrane" |
Chemotherapy Goals | identifying needs of a living cell and removing, disrupting, or interfering with requirements |
Biofilms | harder to target, other drugs used along wit antibiotics |
Quinine | principal malaria treatment |
Anthelminthic Drug Therapy | blocking reproduction does not affect adult worms |
Antiviral Drug Therapy | barring penetration, blocking transcription, and translation, preventing maturation |
Drug Resistance | change in microbes that can tolerate drug needing a higher dose |
Intrinsic | normal, naturally resistant |
Reasons Of Resistancy | plasma transfer or mutations |
Resistance "R" Factors | plasmids containing antibiotic resistance genes, transferred through conjugation, transformation, or transduction |
New Approaches | using RNA interference, mimicking defense, and using bacteriophages |
Probiotics | to improve intestinal biota with live microorganism |
Prebiotics | nutrients that encourage growth of beneficial microbes |
Fecal Transplants | to re-colonize colon |
Allergy | heightened sensitivity to a drug, major problem |
Biota | normal microbial colonies on a healthy body |
Super Infections | when biota is destroyed and microbes double in numbers |
Shotgun Approach | using broad spectrum antimicrobial therapy for minor infections |
Human Microbiome | sum total of all microbes |
Human Microbiome Project "HMP" | research characteristics of microbes on living tissue |
Intestinal Biota | important for health and other diseases |
Resident Biota | destroyed by immune system before they colonize, not harmful |
Microbial Antagonism | resident biota is hostile to other microbes, unlikely to be displaced by incoming microbes |
Pathogen | microbe, parasitic relationship causing infection and disease |
Infections Disease | disruption of tissue or organ by microbes and their products |
Pathogenicity | organisms potential to cause infection or disease |
True Pathogens | capable of causing disease in healthy people with normal immune defenses |
Opportunistic Pathogens | cause disease when hot's defenses are compromised, rare, only in unique circumstances |
Virulence | anything a microbe has that gives it an advantage to cause disease |
Portal Of Entry | route microbe takes to enter |
Exogenous | outside source, another person |
Endogenous | microbes on my own body |
Infectious Dose "ID" | minimum number of microbes necessary to cause infection |
Adhesion | microbes attach to tissues, is a key step |
Phagocytes | main WBC engulfs and destroys pathogens |
Antiphagocytic Factors | helps pathogens avoid phagocytes |
Leukocidins | kill phagocytes outright |
Exoenzymes | enzymes secreted by microbes |
Toxin | secreted inside and sent outside cell |
Exotoxins | proteins that target a specific cell with deadly effects |
Neurotoxins | act on nervous system |
Enterotoxins | act on intestines |
Hemolysis | lyse red blood cells |
Nephrotoxins | damage the kidneys |
Necrosis | cell and tissue death |
Sign | objective evidence of disease |
Symptom | subjective evidence of disease |
Syndrome | disease identified by signs and symptoms |
inflammation | body defense process |
Edema | accumulation of fluid in afflicted tissue |
Granulomas And Abscesses | walled-off collections of inflammatory cells and microbes in tissue "WBC and microbes" |
Lymphadenitis | swollen lymph nodes |
Leukocytosis | increase in WBC levels |
Leukopenia | decrease in WBC levels |
Septicemia | microorganisms multiplying in large numbers in the blood |
Bacteremia or Viremia | bacteria or viruses present in blood, not multiplying |
Portal Of Exit | pathogen exit |
Latency | dormant microbes in certain chronic infectious diseases |
Sequelae | long-term or permanent damage to tissue or organs by infectious diseases |
Incubation Period | time from intimal contact with infectious agent to the appearance of symptoms |
Prodromal Stage | 1-2 day period when earliest notable symptoms of infection appear |
Period Of Invasion | infection multiplies at high levels, greatest toxicity, well established in tissues |
Convalescent Period | patient begins to respond to infection and symptoms decline |
Reservoir | primary habitat in natural world of a pathogen |
Transmitter | individual or object from which an infection is acquired |
Carrier | shelters pathogen without knowledge, spreads to others without notice, may not experience disease due to microbe |
Zoonosis | indigenous infection to animals but naturally transmissible to humans ex. rabies "zoo means animals" |
Communicable/Infectious | transmits infection from host to host |
Contagious | highly communicable, especially through direct contact |
Noncommunicable | person invaded by their own microbes |
Asymptomatic, Subclinical, or Inapparent | infections that go unnoticed |
Horizontal Transfer | from 1 person to another |
Vertical Transfer | from mother to offspring |
Biting Vectors | transmitted through infected saliva into the blood "mosquito" |
Mechanical Vectors | body parts infected by physical contact with a source of pathogens "house fly" |
Health-Care Associated/Nosocomial Infections | during hospital stay |
Common Nosocomial Infections | urinary tract, surgical incisions, respiratory tract |
Universal Precautions "UPs" | all treated with the same degree of care |
Etiologic/Causative Agent | cause of infection and disease |
Koch's Postulates | proofs that became standards in determining cause of disease |
Epidemiology | study of frequency and where |
Florence Nightingale "mid 1850's" | laid foundation of modern epidemiology |
Reportable Or Notifiable Diseases | certain must be reported to authorities, others reported voluntarily |
Prevalence | total number of existing cases |
Incidence | number of new cases |
Mortality Rate | total number of deaths in a population due to disease |
Morbidity Rate | sick people and rate of people |
Point Source Epidemic | infectious agent came from a single source |
Common-Source Epidemic | all exposed over a period of time |
Propagated Epidemic | communicable from person to person and sustained over time |
Index Case | first case found in an epidemiological investigation |
Endemic | standard existence in that location, constantly present |
Sporadic | occasional cases reported at irregular intervals at random locales ex. ebola |
Epidemic | increasing disease beyond what is expected by an epidemic or sporadic disease ex. flu |
Pandemic | spread throughout every country |
1st Line Of Defense | Skin |
2nd Line Of Defense | WBC, phagocytes, and inflammation reactions of the body |
3rd Line Of Defense | Acquired, must develop, and provides long term immunity |
Physical Barrier | Skin |
Chemical Barrier | enzymes; acid |
Genetic Barrier | naturally due to genetic factors |
Skin | flushing effect of sweat removes microbes |
Mucous Membranes | impedes entry and attachment of bacteria |
Respiratory Tract | triggers coughing to eject irritants |
Genitourinary Tract | bladder emptying flushes urethra |
Resident Microbiota | take away space and nutrient from microbes. cilia traps pathogens |
Lysozyme | enzyme in tears and saliva |
Physical Barrier | skin, mucous membranes, respiratory tract, genitourinary tract, and resident microbiota |
Immunology | study of second and third line of defense |
Markers | molecules on cell surfaces |
Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPS) | markers different microbes have in common |
Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) | used by host cells in the second line of defense |
Mononuclear Phagocyte Systems (MPS) | allows chemicals in the MPS and ECF to diffuse into blood and lymphatics |
Lymphatic System | network of vessels, cells, and specialized accessory organs |
Thymus | site of T cell maturation |
Lymphatic Vessel | similar to thin-walled veins |
Lymph Nodes | small, encapsulated, bean-shaped organs |
Spleen | serves as a filter for blood instead of lymph |
Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT) | bundle of lymphocytes on or beneath intestinal mucosa |
Peyer's Patches | cluster of lymphocytes in small intestine |
Whole Blood Contains | blood cells, plasma, and serum |
Blood Cells | formed elements |
Plasma | clear, yellowish fluid |
Serum | Essentially same as plasma, clear fluid from clotted blood |
Hematopoiesis | production of blood cells |
Stem Cells | precursor of new blood cells maintained in bone marrow |
White Blood Cells | leukocytes |
Lymphocytes | cells responsible for immune function |
Second Line Of Defense | generalized and nonspecific defenses support and interact with immune responses |
Phagocytosis | ingest and eliminate microbes and dead cells |
Neutrophils | react early in the inflammatory response to bacteria, foreign materials and damaged tissue |
Monocytes | Macrophages, process foreign substances and prepare them for reactions with B and T lymphocytes |
Histiocytes | live in a certain tissue and remain there during their lifespan |
Phagocyte | eating cell |
Inflammasomes | inside cytoplasm of phagocytic cells of innate immune system |
Inflammatory Response | can be local or systemic, easily identifiable by a classic series of signs and symptoms |
Rubor | redness by increased circulation and vasodilation in the injured tissue |
Calor | warmth by heat given off by increased blood flow |
Tumor | swelling by fluid escaping into the tissues |
Dolor | pain by the stimulation of nerve endings, loss of function |
Inflammation Functions | defensive reaction, and a means for the body to maintain stability and restore itself after injury |
Cytokines | small active molecules secreted to regulate, stimulate, suppress, and control cell development, inflammation, and immunity |
Chemotaxis | migration of cells in response to a specific chemical stimulus |
Pus | accumulation of whitish mass of cells, liquefied cellular debris, and bacteria |
Pyogenic | bacteria that stimulate the formation of pus |
Fever | abnormally elevated body temperature, nearly universal symptom of infection |
Pyrogens | substance that reset the hypothalamic thermostat to a higher setting |
Exogenous Pyrogens | infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria, protozoans, fungi, endotoxin, blood, blood products, and vaccines |
Endogenous Pyrogens | liberated by monocytes, neutrophils, and macrophages during phagocytosis |
Interferon | small protein produced naturally by certain white blood and tissue cells |
Interferon Gamma | produced by T cells |