Chapter 26 Vocab

Parasites

Any living organisms in or on any other living creature; take advantage of the host by feeding off cells and tissues.

Source Individual

Any person, living or dead, whose blood or other potentially infectious materials may be a source of occupational exposure to another person; examples included but are not limited to, hospital and clinic patients; clients in institutions for the developmentally disabled; trauma victims; clients of drug and alcohol treatment facilities; residents of hospices and nursing homes; human remains; and people who donate or sell blood or blood components.

Endemic

Consistently present or prevalent in a population or geographic area.

Reservoir

In the context of communicable disease, a place where organisms may live and multiply.

Fomites

Inanimate objects contaminated with microorganisms that serve as a means of transmitting an illness.

Vaccinations

Inoculations with a vaccine, usually by injection or inhalation, to bring about immunity to a specific disease in person.

Bloodborne Pathogens

Pathogenic microorganisms that are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans. These pathogens include, but are not limited to, hepatitis B virus, human immunodeficiency virus, and syphilis.

Carriers

People who harbor an infectious agent and, although not personally ill, can transmit the infection to other people.

Transmission-based precautions

Precautions beyond standard precautions designed to interrupt specific disease transmission routes. There are three types: airborne, droplet, and contact. Can be used alone or in combination; always used in conjunction with standard precautions.

Zoonotic

Refers to infectious diseases of animals that can be transmitted to humans and cause disease.

Protozoa

Single-celled, usually microscopic, eukaryotic organisms such as amoebas, ciliates, flagellates, and sporozoans; a type of parasite.

Bacteria

Small organisms that can grow and reproduce outside the human cell in the presence of the needed temperature and nutrients and cause disease by invading and multiplying in the tissues of the host.

Viruses

Small organisms that can multiply only inside a host, such as a human, and cause disease.

Virulence

The ability of an organism to invade and create disease in a host; also refers to the ability of an organism to survive outside the living host.

Opportunistic Infections

The infections in which an organism thrives when the immune system has been compromised by illness, chemotherapeutic medications, or anti-rejections drugs in an organ transplant recipient. These fungi, bacteria, viruses, and parasites are normally held in check by a healthy immune system.

Infection

The invasion of a host or host tissue by pathogenic organisms such as bacteria, viruses, or parasites that produces illness that may or may not have clinical manifestations.

Incubation Period

The period between exposure to an organism and the first symptoms of illness, during which the organism multiplies within the body and starts to produce symptoms. This period is when the disease can be transmitted to another person.

Communicable Period

The period during which an infected person can transmit a communicable disease to someone else

Contaminated

The presence of blood or other potentially infectious materials on an item or surface.

Immunization

The process of producing widespread immunity to a specific infectious disease among a targeted group by inoculating individual members of the population; can also refer to a set of vaccinations given together or on a recommended schedule.

Vaccines

The products formulated to bring about immunity by introducing into the body a killed or weakened virus to which the immune system produces antibodies.

Standard Precautions

The term currently used to describe the infection control practices that will reduce the opportunity for exposure of providers in the daily care of patients; considers all body fluids, except sweat, to present a possible risk.

Droplet transmission

The transmission of an infectious agent by inhalation of relatively large particles generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes; these particles travel a short distance through the air before falling to the ground.

Airborne Transmission

The transmission of an infectious agent by inhalation of small particles that become aerosolized when the infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, or exhales; particles remain suspended in this vapor and can be carried a short distances, usually 3 feet to 6 feet.

Contract Transmission

The transmission of an infectious agent by means of direct and indirect contact with the infected persons, such as skin-to-skin contact or contact with the patient's environment and/or equipment.

Contact Precautions

The use of precautions (gloves, gown, good hand-washing, and cleaning of high-touch items) to prevent contact transmission; used for patients presenting with draining wounds, multi-drug resistant infection, lice, norovirus, and Ebola

Vesicles

Tiny fluid-filled sacs; small blisters

Droplet Precautions

Use of a surgical mask on the patient and airflow measures to prevent droplet transmission; used for patients with possible influenza, meningitis, pertussis, mumps, rubella, and ebola.

Infectious Disease

A disease caused by pathogenic organisms

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)

A disease originating from the Arabian peninsula, transmitted by close contact with camel urine or nasal secretions.

Chancroid

A highly contagious sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacteria Haemophilus ducreyi, which causes painful sores (ulcers), usually of the genitals.

Colonized

A pathogen is present but has produced no illness in the host; often progresses to active infection; a colonized host is often called a carrier because he or she can transmit the pathogen to others.

Hanatavirus

A type of virus found in wild rodents, which can also cause disease in humans, characterized by fever, headache, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, and vomiting; disease caused are hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Dengue

A virus transmitted by the mosquiots Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, foudn throughout the world, in which the majority of people are asymptomatic; if the severe form develops, it is characterized by hypovolemic shock, hemorrhage, and potentially death.

Vector

An animal or insect that carries a disease-causing and transmits it to a human host, without itself becoming ill.

Healthcare Associated Infection

An infection acquired 2 days after admission to a health care setting or 30 days after discharge from one.

Communicable Disease

An infectious disease that can be transmitted from one person to another by direct contact or by indirect contact through a vector or fomite; also called contagious disease.

Scabies

An infestation of th skin with the mites Sarcopies scabiei; spreads rapidly with skin to skin contact.

Pandemic

An outbreak of disease that occurs on a global scale.

Epiemic

An outbreak of disease that substantially exceeds what is expected based on recent experiences.