What does asepsis mean?

What does asepsis mean?
A . Sterile
B . Free of disease causing agents
C . Visually clean
D . All of the above

View Answer

Answer: B

Explanation:

The ideal situation in a medical environment is for it to be sterile, but in practice this is virtually impossible to achieve, as even healthy people carry bacteria with them. Therefore the aim of cleaning procedures in hospitals is to achieve asepsis (which is also used as a term for the procedures), which means there are no disease causing agents present. Medical asepsis such as would be used on a ward aims to reduce the number of disease-causing organisms, whereas surgical asepsis as used in theatre aims to eliminate them.