Disinfection (French des - eliminate and Latin infection - infection) is one of the main methods of destroying microorganisms in the external environment, including especially dangerous and pathogenic ones.
If we consider the epidemic process as a chain, the first link in it will be sick people and animals, which are the source
infections and to which therapeutic measures are applied.
The second link in the spread of infection is the transmission factors, which include rooms where patients are kept, items for the care and maintenance of patients, including dishes, implements, work clothes, tools, etc.
Disinfection and sterilization are just the main active forces aimed at the second link of the epidemic chain.
Sterilization and disinfection suggest one action - the elimination of microorganisms or toxins, but the essence of these concepts is different. Disinfection involves the destruction of the bulk of the pathogenic pathogen. Before her
the application always takes into account the specific type of pathogen that the action will be directed to, as well as the composition of the disinfectant that will have the highest effect.
The term "sterilization" is understood as the complete elimination of microorganisms, both causing the infectious process and not causing it. Types of sterilization are very diverse, but they are carried out in small territories or on small items and only when there is a short-term need for them. In other words, sterilization cannot be used for planned or preventive purposes. Disinfection is one of the main activities carried out just with a preventive, improving or planned purpose. Therefore, the classification of disinfection measures is much wider than sterilization, and all its types have a more diverse application.
Disinfection and sterilization have many methods. Moreover, sterilization is much less than disinfection.
The main sterilization methods are autoclaving, boiling, exposure to certain chemicals, heating with dry heat sources, ultraviolet radiation and some others. The purpose of sterilization is one - the complete destruction of microorganisms.
There are much more disinfection methods , and the bulk of them are of a larger scale, although they do not guarantee the complete destruction of pathogenic
microflora.
Can disinfection and sterilization, acting together, reliably protect people and animals from especially dangerous diseases that still occur in our lives? The answer, naturally, is negative.
For disinfection measures against anthrax, suppose it is impossible to achieve 100% destruction of the pathogen in the external environment, no matter what methods this measure is carried out. Sterilization is mainly aimed at small objects and, in essence, guarantees the destruction of any kind of infection pathogens, even those dangerous and persistent, such as anthrax microbial bacilli and their spores, but only on small objects that do not play a role in liquidation measures.
Nevertheless, the fight against infections must be carried out comprehensively, and disinfection and sterilization must take part in such events. Excluding at least one of them from the list, it will be simply impossible to achieve positive results in the fight against most diseases.