Long-Term Care

Tip of the week: Understand infection control terms

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, April 1, 2010

To cause disease, microbial agents first need to adhere to the host organism – in this case, the resident or patient. Then colonization takes place, whereby microbes colonize in the tissues of the body, possibly leading to an invasion of the cells.

Once in the body, bacterial agents can cause much devastation by producing agents that further damage the host, such as hemolysins and leukocidins that destroy red blood cells; hyaluronidase that break down hyaluronic acid and, with it, tissue; endotoxins, which bacteria produce as they are destroyed; and exotoxins, which bacterial organisms release and can devastate major organ systems in the body.

When discussing the issue of infection control and sanitation, healthcare administrators should be aware of some basic concepts associated with disease-causing microbial agents. Those concepts, or terms, include:

  • Pathogen – An organism that can cause disease
  • Pathogenicity – An organism’s ability to cause disease
  • Virulence – The potency of an organism; an organism’s power to cause disease
  • Communicable – An agent that is contagious from one person to another

This is an excerpt from HCPro’s book, The Long-Term Care Administrator’s Field Guide, by Brian Garavaglia, PhD.

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