TERMINOLOGY

 Abrasion: an abrasion is a wound cause by superficial

damage to the skin, non deeper than the epidermis.
 Aerobic: Microorganisms that live in presence of
oxygen.
 Anaerobic: Microorganisms that live in absence of
oxygen.
 Antibiotic: Substance produced or derived from
microorganisms that inhibit growth of other
microorganisms.
 Antibody: An antibody is a type of protein produced by
the immune system in response to foreign substance(such
as chemicals, virus particles, spores, or bacterial toxins)
called antigens that may pose threat to the body.
 Antigen: An antigen is any substance that stimulates
our immune system to produce antibodies against it.
An antigen may be a foreign substance from the
environment such as chemicals, bacteria, viruses or
pollen.
 Antiseptics: Chemicals agents that inhibit the growth
of microorganisms.
 Antitoxin: An antibody produced by body against
toxins produced by infecting agents.
 Attenuation: Reduction of virulence (disease
producing ability) of infectious agents.
 Autoinfection: An infection by a disease agent
already present in the body but developing in a
different body part.
Bacteraemia: Presence of bacteria in blood
stream.
Bactericidal: Any agent that kills the bacteria.
Bacteriostatic: Any agent that inhibit the
growth and multiplication of bacteria.
Bacteriuria: Presence of bacteria in the urine.
Cellulites: An acute inflammation of the
connective tissue of the skin, caused by
infection with staphylococcus, streptococcus
or other bacteria.
 Coinfection: It is the term used to describe the
simultaneous infection of a single cell by two or
more infecting agents.
 Coliforms: Group of Gram-negative bacteria
those are normally present in gastrointestinal
tract.
 Cross infection: Infection transmitted between
patients infected with different pathogenic
microorganisms.
 Cytopathic: A pathological change in cells or
tissues which results in impaired functions.
 Cytotoxic: An agent which is toxic to cell.
 Disinfection: The process of destructing or killing
microorganisms by physically or by chemical agents called
disinfects.
 Dissemination: Spread of infection/ disease in the body.
 Droplet infection: Infection due to inhalation of respiratory
pathogens suspended on liquid particles exhaled by an animal that
is already infected.( An infection transmitted from one individual
to another by droplets of moisture expelled from the upper
respiratory tract through sneezing or coughing.)
 Endemic: A disease that is always present in a particular
locality/population.
 Epidemic: A sudden outbreak of infectious disease spreading
rapidly through population affecting large proportion of peoples.
 Endogenous infection: An infection caused by
an infectious agent that is already present in the
body, but has previously been in apparent or
dormant.
 Enterotoxin: A toxin produced by bacteria that
is specific for the mucous membrane of the
intestine and causes the vomiting and diarrhea
associated with food poisoning.
 Exogenous infection: An infection caused by
organisms not normally present in the body but
which have gained entrance from the
environment.
 Exotoxin or extracellular toxin: Toxins secreted by
a microorganisms and released into the environment
in which it grows.
 Fermentation: Fermentation in food processing
typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to
alcohol and carbon dioxide or organic acids using
yeasts, bacteria or a combination thereof, under
anaerobic conditions. A more restricted definition of
fermentation is the chemical conversion of sugars
into ethanol.
 Fomites: Contaminated object (towels, utensils,
syringes) that can transmit disease from patient to
normal individual.
 Fulminating: Any infection that is severe, of
sudden onset and of short duration.
 Fumigation: The process employing smoke or
fumes in order to exterminates or disinfect.
 Fungaemia: Presence of fungi in the blood
stream.
 Generalized infection: An infection that has
entered the bloodstream and has general systemic
symptoms such as fever, chills, and low blood
pressure.
 Immunity: Resistance of an organism to
infection or disease. (it is protection from
disease.)
 Immunization: Process by which a person is
made immune or resistant to infectious diseases
by administration of a vaccine.
 Immunosuppression: Suppression of immune
response due to disease or by drugs.
 Immunocompromised: Having an immune
system that has been impaired by disease or
treatment.
 Infection: Invasion & multiplication of
pathogenic microorganisms in bodily parts or
tissues which may produce subsequent tissue
injury & progress to disease through a variety of
cellular or toxic mechanisms.
 In vitro: In laboratory apparatus. (test-tube
experiment)
 In vivo: In living animal or human being.
 Localized infection: An infection restricted to a
particular part of body.
 Occult: Not visible to naked eyes; hidden.
 Opportunistic infection: An infection by a
microorganisms (bacteria, virus, fungi, protozoa)
that normally does not cause disease but becomes
pathogenic when resistance to infection is lowered
due to impairment of the body’s immune system.
 Parasites: An organisms that lives on or in a
different kind of organisms (the host) from which
it gets some or all of its nourishments. Parasites are
generally harmful to their hosts, although the
damage they do ranges widely from minor
inconvenience to debilitating or fetal disease,
 Pasteurization: It is a process of heating a food,
usually liquid, to a specific temperature (below its
boiling point) for a definite length of time, and then
cooling it immediately. The process was discovered
by Louis Pasteur while trying to inactivate spoilage
organisms in beer and wine.
 Pandemic: An epidemic spreading widely and
affecting vast number of people in different countries.
 Sanitization: Sanitization is the cleaning of
pathogenic microorganisms from public eating
utensils and object such as that done by the kitchen of
a restaurant.
 Stain: To treat (specimen for the microscope)
with a reagent or dye that makes visible certain
structures without affecting others.
 Sterilization: Any process that eliminates
(removes) or kills all forms of life, including
transmissible agents (such as fungi, viruses,
bacteria, spore forms, etc) present on a surface,
contained in a fluid, in medication or in a
compound such as biological culture media.
 Toxin: A poisonous substance produced by living
organisms especially bacteria.
 Toxoid: A preparation of toxin that is rendered
harmless by chemical treatment and is used as
vaccine.
 Vaccines: A vaccine is a biological preparation that
improve immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine
typically contains an agent that resembles that
disease-causing microorganisms and is often made
from weakened or killed forms of the microbes or its
toxins.
 Vector: An organism especially an insect that carries
a disease producing microorganisms from one host to
another, either within or on the surface of its body.
 Aseptic: Free of pathogenic microorganisms.
 Autoclave: An instrument used to sterilize equipment
and supplies by subjecting them to high pressure
saturated steam at 121 C for around 15-20 minutes.
 Culture media: A liquid or gelatinous substance
containing nutrients in which microorganisms or
tissue are cultivated for scientific purposes.
 Heat fixing: A process in staining procedure in which
the smear after being dried at room temperature is
passed over the flame of a Bunsen burner several
times to heat-kill and adhere the organism to the slide.
 Isolation: Separating out microorganisms
from any sample on solid culture media.
 Inoculation: To introduce (as a
microorganisms) into a suitable situation for
growth.
 Microbe: A microscopic living organism such
as bacterium, fungus, protozoan or virus.