Sterilization and disinfection

Sterilization and disinfection

Sterilizationis the process by which all viable microorganism including viruses, bacteriaand their spores are killed or eliminated. This is important in many fieldsparticularly in surgery and in microbiological works. There are three mainmethods of sterilization:

• Physical
• Chemical and
• Filtration

Disinfectionis the killing of many but not all microorganisms. For adequate disinfection,pathogens must be killed but some organisms and bacterial spores may survive.

Differencebetween sterilization and disinfection:

Traits	Sterilization	Disinfection
Definition	Sterilization is the process by which all viable microorganism including viruses, bacteria and their spores are killed or eliminated.	Disinfection is the killing of many but not all microorganisms.
killed	Viruses, bacteria and their spores are killed or eliminated.	Pathogens must be killed but some organisms and bacterial spores may survive