2021-22 Semester 2

SEHH2232 General Microbiology

Topic 7 - Tutorial
Control and Prevention of Infection
(with answers)
 Slide 7-8

Slide 7
Slide 9
Slide 26-29
 Slide 61

Slide 58
 F: Sterilization 7

F: UV light or radiation 26-29

True 41

F: Penicillin 58-60
 sanitizing agents (Slide 9)

endospores (Slide 21)

70% (Slide 41)

silver (Slide 44)

hydrogen peroxide (Slide 42)

broad-spectrum antibiotic (Slide 57)

folic acid (Slide 64-65)

The control of microorganisms is an important way of preventing pathogens from reaching
the body.

Sterilizing laboratory equipment, hospital supplies, and industrial apparatus helps contain
contamination.

The choice of a particular antimicrobial agent depends on such things as the kind of material
to be treated (living or nonliving), the kind of microorganism to be controlled, the
environmental conditions existing at the time of the agent’s used (e.g. temperature,
concentration), the acidity or alkalinity of the area, and the presence of organic matter.
Sterilization is the process in which all living organisms, including microbial endospores, are
destroyed.

Sterilization is an absolute term that implies the complete and total removal of all living things.
Where sterilization implies the destruction of all living things, disinfection only implies the
removal of pathogenic organisms.

Disinfection can be accomplished by a disinfectant, which is an antimicrobial agent used on

lifeless object such as an instrument, or an antiseptic, which is an antimicrobial agent used
on the surface of the body.
Where antiseptics and disinfectants are sued outside the body, antibiotics are used within the
body.

An ideal antibiotic must be nontoxic to the host, work at very low concentrations, and not
cause allergic response.

Because they work inside the body, antibiotics can cause side effects, and their antimicrobial
effect is generally less than antiseptics or disinfectants.
In ordinary hot air oven, the dry heat radiates within and around microorganisms and kills
them.

At a temperature of 160oC, an exposure of about 90 minutes will result in sterilization.

Dry heat is preferred to moist heat because dry heat can be used to sterilize powder, oily
materials, dry glassware and instruments, and other materials that do not mix easily with
water.
Moist heat generally coagulates and causes denaturation in microorganisms.

In denaturation, proteins separate as an insoluble mass as they revert from their three-
dimensional structure to a two-dimensional structure.

In dry heat, by contrast, the primary effect on microorganisms is due to oxidation of large
molecules, a process that breaks them down into smaller molecules.

Since oxidation is a less efficient process, it generally requires a longer period of time.
Pasteurization is not a sterilization process.

It lowers the level of microorganisms in milk and dairy products and kills any pathogenic
microorganisms present.

For milk, beer and fruit juice, pasteurization is an effective way of lengthening the shelf life of
products, but it does not sterilize them.
There are many different kinds of radiation having antimicrobial effects.

Ionizing radiation includes x-rays and gamma rays. These types of radiation form free radicals
in cytoplasm, and the free radicals destroy microbial proteins and DNA. Endospore generally
resist the effect of ionizing radiation but most other organisms are killed. Various foods, drugs,
and plastic surfaces are treated with ionizing radiation.

Another important form of radiation is ultraviolet radiation. The UV radiation affects nucleic
acids by binding together adjacent thymine bases. Microbial death follows quickly, because the
DNA cannot function or replicate itself. Ultraviolet light is used to control microbial populations
on operating room tables, hair brushes and in the air.
Alcohol is used as a chemical control agent in the form of ethyl alcohol (70%) and isopropyl
alcohol (70%).

Alcohol denatures proteins and can be used against endospores, abut complete immersion
must take place and a minimum of 20 minutes’ exposure must be observed.

Used as an antiseptic, alcohol has minimal activity because it dries very quickly.
Antimicrobial agents include two important halogens, chlorine and iodine.

Both of these halogens are oxidizing agents that react with the amino acids in proteins and
change the nature of the protein.

Chlorine is used in its gaseous form in water purification and as sodium hypochlorite, the
major component of household bleach.

Iodine is available as a 2% alcohol solution known as a tincture of iodine and in an organic

form called an iodophore (e.g. in Betadine).

Both chlorine and iodine reacts with organic matter, so materials must be thoroughly cleaned
before disinfection is attempted.

Bleach will achieve sterilization after 20 minutes of exposure, however, it will not kill all types
of spores.
Antibiotics are products of microorganisms that react with and inhibit the growth of other
microorganisms.

They are not laboratory chemicals as are the antiseptics and disinfectants.
Antibiotics inhibit microbial populations by any of five major methods.

They disrupt cell wall synthesis, they interfere with cell membrane function, they inhibit
protein synthesis or interfere with its completion, they disrupt the functioning of nucleic acids,
and they interrupt selected metabolic pathways.

Some antibiotics are bactericidal (killing microbes) while other antibiotics are bacteriostatic
(simply preventing division of microbes).
There are two major categories of antibiotics available: narrow-spectrum antibiotics and
broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Narrow-spectrum antibiotics control a narrow range of microorganisms, such as Gram-

positive or Gram-negative bacteria, but not both. Broad-spectrum antibiotics kill a wide range
of microorganisms, such as both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

An example of a narrow-spectrum antibiotics is penicillin and an example of broad-spectrum

antibiotics is tetracycline.
Vancomycin is a glycopeptide currently used for bacterial displaying resistance to penicillin,
cephalosporin, and other antibiotics.

Vancomycin is useful against Gram-positive bacteria, such as staphylococci, but it has

serious side effects, must be given intravenously, and is used only in life-threatening situation
such as in serious methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection where it
interferes with cell wall formation.