Infection control, Safety, First aid, and personal wellness

• An infection happens when a microorganism invades the body, multiplies, and causes injury or disease.
• A pathogen is a disease-causing microbe which could be classified as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, or virus.
• There are two types of infections:

  communicable infections

  nosocomial and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)
• Communicable infections can spread from person to person
• Nosocomial and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are usually caused by infected personnel, patients, visitors, food, drug, or equipment while a patient is in the hospital or other healthcare facilities.
• six components of the chain of infection

  infectious (causative) agent

  reservoir

  exit pathway

  means of transmission

  entry pathway

  susceptible host
• infectious (causative) agent - pathogenic microbe such as virus, bacteria, fungus, protozoa, and rickettsia
• Reservoir - source of the agent of infection or place where the microbe could grow, survive, and multiply, which could be in humans, animals, food, water, soil, or equipment
• exit pathway - a way or manner an infectious agent can leave the reservoir host, which could be through secretions and exudates, tissue specimens, blood, feces, or urine
• means of transmission - airborne, direct (touching or kissing) or indirect contact ( contaminated objects ), droplets (coughing or sneezing), vector (insect, anthropod, or animal), and vehicle (food, water, or drugs)
• entry pathway - the way an infectious agent enters a host, which includes body orifices, mucous membranes, and breaks in the skin
• susceptible host - someone who is prone to infection, especially the elderly, newborn babies, patients who are immune-suppressed or unvaccinated, and those suffering from acute or chronic illness