Sterilization and disinfection

Topic: Infection control

Sterilization destroys all microorganisms, including spores; disinfection destroys most microorganisms but not spores. Under the Spaulding classification, critical items that enter sterile tissue or the vascular system are sterilized, semicritical items that touch mucous membranes need high-level disinfection, and noncritical items that touch intact skin get low-level disinfection. Visible soil is cleaned off before either process.

Also known as:

Sterilization, Disinfection, Spaulding classification

In Turkish:

Sterilizasyon ve dezenfeksiyon