Surgical Asepsis- procedure used to prevent contamination by microbes and endospores before during or after surgery using sterile technique. 

Asepsis- a state of sterility; condition in which living pathogens are absent. 

Medical Asepsis- reduction in the numbers of infectious agents, decreasing the probability of infection but does not necessarily reduce it to zero. 

Disinfectant- chemicals used to free an environment from pathogenic organisms or to render such organisms inert. 

 Vector- A carrier, especially an animal that transfers an infective agent from one host to another. 

 Iatrogenic- resulting from the activities of physicians

 Nosocomial- pertaining to the hospital; said of an infection does not present or incubating before admittance to the hospital but generally developing 72 hours after admittance. 

 Reservoir- alternative or passive host or carrier that harbors pathogenic organisms without injury to itself and serves as a source from which other individuals can be infected. 

 Fungi- general term used to denote a group of eukaryotic protists- including mushrooms, yeasts, rusts, that are characterized by the absence of chlorophyll and by the presence of a rigid cell wall. 

 Bacteria- prokaryotic, ubiquitous, single-celled organisms. 

 Fomite- an object that is not in itself harmful but is able to harbor pathogenic microorganisms and thus may serve as an agent of transmission of an infection. 

 Standard Precautions- precautions to prevent the transmission of disease aby body fluids and substances.