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1. 1. UTIs
2. Surgical site infections
3. Lower respiratory tract infections (primarily pneumonia)
4. Bloodstream infections (septicemia)

2. 1. An ever-increasing number of drug-resistant pathogens

2. The failure of healthcare personnel to follow infection control guidelines
3. An increased number of immunocompromised patients

3. Handwashing is the single most important measure to reduce the risks of transmitting
pathogens from one patient to another or from one anatomic site to another on the same
patient. The primary way to reduce the number of HAIs is strict compliance with infection control
guidelines.
4. The role of an infection control nurse is to determine, prevent, and contain infectious outbreaks
in the healthcare setting. An infection can easily spread causing patients to become ill and
possibly die even in a sterile and sanitary environment.
5. The Committee is an integral component of the patient safety programme of the health care
facility, and is responsible for establishing and maintaining infection prevention and control, its
monitoring, surveillance, reporting, research and education.

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1. Healthcare professionals who collect and transport clinical specimens should exercise extreme
caution during the collection and transport of clinical specimens to avoid sticking themselves
with needles, cutting themselves with other types of sharps, or coming in contact with any type
of specimen. According to the CLSI, all specimens must be collected or transferred into a
leakproof primary container with a secure closure. Care should be taken by the person collecting
the specimen not to contaminate the outside of the primary container. Within the institution,
the primary container should be placed into a second container, which will contain the specimen
if the primary container breaks or leaks in transit to the laboratory.
2. – The specimen must be properly selected.
– The specimen must be properly and carefully collected.
– The material should be collected from a site where the suspected pathogen is most likely to be
found and where the least contamination is likely to occur.
– The material should be collected from a site where the suspected pathogen is most likely to be
found and where the least contamination is likely to occur.
– The acute stage of the disease—when the patient is experiencing the symptoms of the disease
—is the appropriate time to collect most specimens.
– Specimen collection should be performed with care and tact to avoid harming the patient,
causing discomfort, or causing undue embarrassment.
 – A sufficient quantity of the specimen must be obtained to provide enough material for all
required diagnostic tests.
– All specimens should be placed or collected into a sterile container to prevent contamination
of the specimen by indigenous microflora and airborne microbes
– Specimens should be protected from heat and cold and promptly delivered to the laboratory
so that the results of the analyses will validly represent the number and types of organisms
present at the time of collection.
– Specimens must be handled with great care to avoid contamination of the patients, couriers,
and healthcare professionals.
– The specimen container must be properly labeled and accompanied by an appropriate
laboratory test requisition containing adequate instructions.
– Ideally, specimens should be collected and delivered to the laboratory as early in the day as
possible to give CML professionals sufficient time to process the material, especially when the
hospital or clinic does not have 24-hour laboratory service.
3. High-quality clinical specimens are required to achieve accurate, clinically relevant laboratory
results. It has often been stated that the quality of the laboratory work performed in a Clinical
Microbiology Laboratory can be only as good as the quality of the specimens it receives. The
laboratory must provide written instructions for the proper selection, collection, and transport
of clinical specimens. Although the laboratory provides guidelines, it is the person who collects
the specimen who is ultimately responsible for its quality.

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1. – The microbe may land at an anatomic site where it is unable to multiply.

– Many pathogens must attach to specific receptor sites (described later) before they are able to
multiply and cause damage.

– Antibacterial factors that destroy or inhibit the growth of bacteria (e.g., the lysozyme that is
present in tears, saliva, and perspiration) may be present at the site where a pathogen land.

– The indigenous microflora of that site (e.g., mouth, vagina, intestine) may inhibit growth of the
foreign microbe by occupying space and using up available nutrients.

– The indigenous microflora at the site may produce antibacterial factors (proteins called
bacteriocins) that destroy the newly arrived pathogen.

– The individual’s nutritional and overall health status often influences the outcome of the
pathogen–host encounter.

– The person may be immune to that particular pathogen, perhaps as a result of prior infection
with that pathogen or having been vaccinated against that pathogen.

– Phagocytic white blood cells (phagocytes) present in the blood and other tissues may engulf
and destroy the pathogen before it has an opportunity to multiply, invade, and cause disease.
2. – Symptom of a disease is defined as some evidence of a disease that is experienced or
perceived by the patient; something that is subjective. Examples of symptoms include any type
of ache or pain, a ringing in the ears (tinnitus), blurred vision, nausea, dizziness, itching, and
chills. Diseases, including infectious diseases, may be either symptomatic, where patient is
experiencing symptoms, or asymptomatic, where patient is not experiencing any symptom.
–Sign of a disease is defined as some type of objective evidence of a disease. For example, while
palpating a patient, a physician might discover a lump or an enlarged liver (hepatomegaly) or
spleen (splenomegaly).