Question

1: As a medical assistant you may be responsible for training and MA's. . how much can you prepare them to properly protect themselves from exposure to infection agents. 2:list major types of infectious agents . Describe the infection cycle including: a. the infection agents; b. reservoir; c.susceptible host; d. means of transaction; portals of entry; portals of exit.

Answer 1

1.Health care professionals are always expose to sources of infections.So it is important to know the ways to protect ourselves from infection.

1. Use Protective gloves, mask or goggles

2. Treating all blood and body fluids as they are infectious.

3 Handling and disposing all the sharp instruments and needles correctly

4. Follow infection control guidelines in your work.

5 Get yourself immunized by taking vaccines .

2. There are five major types of infectious agents.They are

1.Bacteria: they are unicellular prokaryotic organism .The most common type of bacteria are bacillus(rod shape) coccus (spherical) and spirillum(helical).

2.Viruses:Here virus particle is composed of viral genome of nucleic acid and can be double stranded DNA or single stranded RNA. Virus cause disease by disturbing the normal cell function. Viruses are classified according to shape ,size or type of genome.

3.Fungi: They are eukaryotic organisms with cell wall and they reproduce by forming spores.

4.Protozoa: They are unicellular eukaryotic without cell walls. Amoeba and paramecium are protozoa. They can enter our body through contaminated food or water.

5.Helminths: They are invertebrate animals and some of which are infectious.Trichinella spiralis is a roundworm which cause trichinosis.

Infection cycle

Infection is invasion of of an organism by the disease causing agent which will multiply in the host and can cause harm to the host tissue by producing toxins. It is very important to prevent and control the infection.To control the infection we have to understand the life cycle of infection.

Infection Cycle is a chain of events. if we understand this change and remove one of the links we can control the infection

The main Components of chain of infection are :

Infectious agent

Reservoir

Portal of entry

Transmission of agent

Portal of exit

Host

a. Infectious Agent are any material that can cause an infection and that can lead to a disease.They can be bacteria,viral,fungi,protozoa and helminths.

b. The reservoir of an infectious agent is habitat in which it lives,and grows and multiplies .Reservoirs can be animals humans and the environment. It is from the reservoir that the Infectious substance is transmitted to human or to another host.

c.Susceptible host: any person who is at risk of become infected by a disease.

d.Means of transaction: How the disease transfer from one person to another. It can be direct or indirect contact inhalation or injection.It is a process in which the infectious agent transfers from one medium to another through saliva, blood, airborne and vector.

e.portal of entry:a portal of entry is the site through which microorganism enter the suspected host and cause disease.

f.portal of exit:It is site from which microorganism leave the host to enter the other host and cause infection.

The way to stop this infection spreading is by interrupting this chain.We can break the chain by cleaning our hands frequently, covering coughs and sneezes, using personal protective equipment ,sterilizing the medical instruments ,and getting vaccinated frequently.