Chapter Overview

The control of microbes in the environment, on the body, and in products is a constant concern of health care and industry.
Control measures known as antimicrobial techniques use physical and chemical agents to target contaminants and other undesirable microbes.
Antimicrobial control methods sterilize, disinfect, antisepticize, and sanitize materials as a means of preventing infection, spoilage, and other harmful microbial activities.
Antimicrobial agents are designed to destroy, inhibit, or remove microbes.
Microbes exhibit wide degrees of resistance to antimicrobial agents and require a variety of methods to control them.
Factors that affect the action of antimicrobial methods are time, temperature, type of agent, microbial load, types of microbes, and the nature of the material being treated.
Microbicidal agents kill microbes by causing irreversible damage to some part of the microbe, thereby permanently preventing it from reproducing.
Microbistatic agents stop microbes from reproducing, but not permanently.
Mechanical agents physically remove microbes from materials, but do not necessarily kill or inhibit them.
Antimicrobial agents damage microbes by disrupting structure (cell wall, cell membrane), altering proteins, stopping synthesis, and inactivating genetic material.
Heat is the most important agent in controlling microorganisms; it can be delivered in either moist or dry form.
Methods that use heat include steam sterilization, pasteurization, and dry ovens.
Radiation exposes materials to high-energy waves and particles that can penetrate microbes. Examples are ionizing and ultraviolet radiation.
Chemical solutions may be used as disinfectants, sterilants, antiseptics, cleaners, and preservatives.
The major classes of antimicrobial chemicals include halogens (iodine and chlorine compounds), alcohols, phenolics, peroxides, heavy metals, detergents, aldehydes, and gases.

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