Correct Answers.
Sterilization - Answer The removal or destruction of all microbes, including viruses and
bacterial endospores, in or on an object.
Antiseptic - Answer Describes an environment or procedure that is free of contamination by
pathogens.
Disinfection - Answer Refers to the use of physical or chemical agents known as disinfectants
to inhibit or destroy microorganisms, especially pathogens.
*Only inanimate objects*
Disinfectants - Answer Includes UV light, heat, alcohol, and bleach.
Differences between Sterilization and Disinfection - Answer Unlike sterilization, disinfection
does not guarantee that all pathogens are eliminated, disinfectants alone cannot inhibit
endospores or some viruses.
Antisepsis - Answer When a chemical is used on skin or other tissue, the process is called
Antisepsis. The chemical is called Antiseptic.
Degerming - Answer Is the removal of microbes from a surface by scrubbing, such as when
you wash your hands or a nurse prepares an area of skin for injection.
Sanitization - Answer Is the process of disinfecting places and utensils used by the public to
reduce the number of pathogenic microbes to meet accepted public health standards.
Pasturization - Answer Is the use of heat to kill pathogens and reduce the number of spoilage
microorganism in food and beverages.
-Stasis, or -Static - Answer -stasis/ -static, to indicate that a chemical or physical agent inhibits
microbial metabolism and growth but does not necessarily kill microbes.
, Examples of -Cide/-cidal - Answer Ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, and aldehydes.
Examples of -stasis/-static - Answer Some chemicals, refrigeration, and freezing.
Moist Heat and examples - Answer Moist heat kills cells by denaturing proteins, and
destroying cytoplasmic membranes.
Examples: boiling and autoclaving
Autoclaving - Answer Method of sterilization using steam under pressure.
121 degrees Celsius at 15 PSI for 15 minutes
Pasteurization - Answer Method of heating beer and wine just enough to destroy the
microorganisms that cause spoilage without ruining the taste.
Ultra High Temperature Sterilization - Answer Involves flash heating milk or other liquids to rid
them of all living microbes.
Involves passing the liquid through superheated steam at about 140 Celsius for 1 to 3 seconds
and then cooling it rapidly.
Dry Heat - Answer Dry heat is an effective sterilization agent because it denatures proteins and
fosters the oxidation of metabolic and structural chemicals; however, in order to sterilize dry
heat requires higher temperatures for longer times than moist heat because dry heat
penetrates more slowly.
Refrigeration and Freezing - Answer Refrigeration (between 0 and 7 Celsius) and freezing
(temperature below 0 Celsius)
These processes decreases microbial metabolism, growth, and reproduction because chemical
reactions occur more slowly at low temperatures and because liquid water is not available at
subzero temperatures.
Ionizing Radiation - Answer Electron beams, gamma rays, and some x-rays are ionizing
radiation; when they strike molecules, they have sufficient energy to eject electrons from