The Principles of Medical Device Decontamination

Organism Group

Eucaryote / Procaryote

Infection Examples

Classified according to shape, presence of envelope and type of nucleic acid i.e. DNA or RNA, single or double stranded. Examples include: » childhood rashes e.g. measles, slapped cheek syndrome » respiratory infections, e.g. Influenza, SARS » gastrointestinal e.g. norovirus associated diarrhoea » blood borne diseases e.g. Hepatitis B, C and HIV » more sinister diseases e.g. Ebola, Lassa fever, Yellow fever.

Cannot be classified as either

Viruses

The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies 8 are the important

exemplar that has particularly exercised the UK since the advent of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and its spill- over into the human population as variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease. Other forms exist and all pose the same risk to the decontamination community

Cannot be classified as either

Infectious proteins

Table 1.1 : Organisms and infections

Viruses and infectious proteins are not considered living organisms as they are incapable of independent replication. In the case of viruses, they are essentially complex inert chemical collections outside a host cell but once they gain access to an appropriate cell, can use the host processes along with their own DNA or RNA to replicate.

9

@ 2025 Central Sterilising Club. All rights reserved. Do Not duplicate