Asma Inayat
Unit 9: Infection Prevention and Control
Learning Aim, A: understand the causes of Infections and Transmission of Infection
Learning Aim: A
Pass (P1) Explain the causes of different infections and the diseases that can result from
them.
Pass (P2) Explain how these diseases can be transmitted and contracted.
Merit (M1) Assess how the transmission and contraction of infectious diseases can be
influenced by different factors.
Distinction (D1) Analyze potential ways in which infections are caused, transmitted and disease is
contracted.
Pass (P1)
Infection occurs when the microorganisms invade and attack certain parts of the whole body by
pathogens, for example bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi. It may or may not have visible symptoms,
as it depends on the host body and the reaction of the infection to it. Infections may damage body
parts such as organs. This may cause illness, tissue damage and disease. Infections may be life-
threatening to some. It is transmissible and contagious. As an HSC worker, the professionals must
deal with several patients and certain patients are more susceptible to infections, for example,
patients with salmonella, HIV, diabetes, chest infections, surgical wounds. Medical devices used in
surgeries, for blood tests, cannulas, blood pressure machine are susceptible to the healthcare
workers, as they use them often and on various patients, so contacting them and the devices can
cause infections to the healthcare, to prevent this they can wear PPE, and decontaminate the
devices, dispose the PPE. It is important for healthcare workers to be aware of the infectious
diseases that can risk their and patients' lives. Because they must meet several patients in a day,
which means that they get directly or indirectly contacted with them. Everybody is susceptible to
infection and has infections in their body in a tiny amount, which is not harmful, but when not
prevented properly such as not using masks and gloves in settings like hospitals, dentists, GP, nursing
homes, own home, care homes and hospices. These settings have several people with patients and
healthcare workers providing care to them and may also contact you and the most common
infection may spread is bacteria. One easy step to prevent this by the healthcare workers and the
service users, is to wear masks and gloves when in contact. There are more ways to prevent
infections that need to be proceeded by healthcare (explained in detail in throughput ahead).
The most vulnerable group to contact infections in healthcare setting are the healthcare workers as
they deal with many patients who may contain infection, the new-borns/premature/elderly/patients
with medical condition and low immune system, as their body are exposed to infection, they may
contact diseases.
Infections may spread through contact (skin, feces), contaminated water and food, inhalation of
droplets and airborne. Strong immune system helps to protect against infectious agents. Infection
control is an important part to stop the spread of infectious diseases for example, COVID-19 spread
(virus), the professionals produced anti-bodies for this virus to stop/minimize the spread of the virus.
It is important in health and social care, as they contact such patients often and may transmit the
infection much more easily. They need to follow the policies and procedures for the health and
safety of both professionals and patients. PPE (personal protective equipment), this is important as
when the doctor protects themselves, then it may decrease the risk of spreading any infection, as
the patient would not visit another patient and would be safe in its own bubble (ward/room), but
the doctors would meet and investigate various patients and may contact each. To protect this
spread within the area, they should follow PPE, sharps objects and waste disposal procedures. PPE
,includes the use of gloves, disposable aprons, masks. This would reduce the risk of infection while
providing care to the service user. These assets should be disposed of after each use and wear new
PPE for every patient. Sharps objects such as needles, the professionals should try to use them
themselves rather than passing through different hands, they should not re-use the same needle and
should be disposed the exact moment after use. Waste disposal such as dressings, disposable
aprons, and gloves should be thrown into the right certain labelled containers/bags which would
keep all the waste products in one place and then disposed. This would help to reduce the spread of
the germs contained. If these procedures were not followed by the professionals while providing
care to service user, then it can lead to the employee (professionals) prosecution and would be
under inculpate for not following the health and safety procedures even if it did not cause any
patient/service user, for example, a nurse went to serve a patient who has cancer without a gloves
and mask. This may not affect the patient in high risk, but these PPE was supposed to be followed for
the safety as the nurse may have come in contact with a patient who had infection, even if the nurse
washed her hands but for the safety of the patient, she should have worn it so it does not transmit.
For this negligence she could have been dismissed or banned if any serious illness or incident may
have caused.
These safety procedures are important to be followed by the practitioners in the HSC system,
because it will reduce the spread and risk of getting other individuals infected. If not followed, then
they may risk their and the patient's life. If not followed correctly, then the healthcare environment
would be a very unsafe place to visit and get treated. As those areas are one of the main places
where any individual may get the transmission of the infection. Infections control is important as it
may also lead to death ratings around the world, as the host may travel and spread it onto places it
has contacted. These procedures may be conducted in schools, courts, and restaurants.
Infection is caused through the agents of infections, for example bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites
are the different types of pathogens. Which can cause through when contact with a person, touching
a cut, burn, flu several times. These are the places there the germs remain.
Types of infection:
Systematic infection
Systematic infection is found in the bloodstream and affects the entire body for e.g., rheumatoid
arthritis. It occurs when the infection is caused by the pathogen and has spread around the body, for
example, digestive and respiratory/circulatory systems. This is a contagious infection that can be
passed to another person through contact, for example, HIV. Diseases associated with systematic
infection are cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, bacterial pneumonia and sarcoidosis disease
affects the organs and tissue such as lungs, brain, joints, and eyes. Physical contact with such
disease cause the infection to a non-infected individual easily. lo term potential implications of
cardiovascular disease are that if it not treated quickly/in an emergency, it may also effect on
individuals' life in future, they may build symptoms that may affect them and have difficulty in
maintaining good health after the surgery/or before. Symptoms such as swelling, dizziness,
weakness, vomiting, stomach-ache, back pain and chest pain. These symptoms can cause difficulties
in handling self-life independently as it affects individuals’ day-to-day basis tasks. The typical stress
for individuals with heart disease knows that they will have long term condition after the surgery or
while having heart disease, the long-term affects these individuals may experience are stroke and
heart attack. If this is not treated on time, it can also kill the individual because the brain cells may
die or increase/decrease to an amount that might put the individual into coma for long period of
time. The medications may also be involved in the treatment, as if either wrong or not taken
properly on time for longer time
Localized infection
Localized infections affect only one part/organ of the body, for example, urinary bladder. It happens
when the infection is restricted to one specific part of or in the body such as an infected wound.
localized infections are not contagious as they only affect the person. Diseases associated with this
, are eyes infections, ear infections, boils. The long-term symptoms are not usually dangerous as they
do not stay for long and are mostly for short periods. Such as having an ear infection may cause
extreme pain for couple of days, blocked ears that may lead to mild/moderate hearing loss, which is
common. It is usually recommended to take antibiotics if the infection is extreme. Antibiotics may
fasten the procedure to clear the blockage in the ears. If the medications are not taken on time
allocated, this may mean that the antibiotics course may need to start again.
Causes of infection and associated diseases/ Symptoms of diseases transmitted through:
Bacteria
Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms and may live in different types of environments such as
heat (may be extreme), cold (may be extreme), bodily fluids, bacteria can cause harmful diseases
such as typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera, salmonellosis, tetanus, MRSA and legionnaires disease.
Bacterial infections can be harmful too such as meningitis, pneumonia, food poisoning, eye
infections, skin infections, urinary tract infections, sinus infections. And these can be treated by
antibiotics. These may spread through contact, contaminated areas or food, body fluids, airborne
and unhygienic areas. The common symptoms of a bacterial infection are swollen lymph, pain (can
be in the whole body or certain part), fever, rashes and neck stiffness. MRSA is caused by severe use
of antibiotics. Tetanus is caused when the bacteria enter wounds that are left unattended.
Legionnaires disease is a lung infection that is caused when the individual inhales air droplets
(water), that can be due to air conditioning or hot tubs. Tuberculosis is caused when the individual
inhales tiny droplets from the cough/sneeze. Cholera is caused by drinking unfiltered/unclean water,
or eating food given or made by the infected person, that may cause severe diarrhea. Salmonellosis
is a food poisoning infection that may be severe according to the individual's health (immune
system). It may affect the intestines and swollen them up. The symptoms are vomiting, fever,
stomachache, low blood pressure and sugar levels, unable to eat or drink anything for certain
times.
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
MRSA is a disease that occurs due to usage of antibiotics (widely used/used for too long), this is
typically susceptible to hospital, nursing homes, care homes and own home admitted individuals, as
the professional treat them with the medications, and it is widely used in these settings, which leads
to side effects and can be severe like MRSA, it is also typically harder to treat. It generally lives on
the human body in around 1 in 30 people, but is harmless on the skin such as nose, armpits, and
hips. It is a communicable disease as it may spread is the non-infected individual get in contact with
the infected person, or the individual used any items that infected individual has touched or used for
example, bedsheet, towels, clothes, surfaces, any objects. As MRSA stays on the first couple layers of
skin and does not harm the inner body, but when the infection grows and get targeted, this can
mean that MRSA would transit the infection into deep layers of skin, which can cause symptoms
such as swelling, pain, pus, and redness for some individuals. When extremely shifts the infection
into further layers that may cause symptoms such as high temperature, pain, dizziness, headache,
low blood pressure, and shivers in the body. To treat MRSA, there are specified antibiotics for the
disease, in either infections or tablets form, isolation is recommended to stop the spread while
treating. It may have emotional, social and physical impact on the individual, as being isolated can
make them emotionally depressed, aggressive, sad and being socially isolated they may feel alone,
dependent.
Tetanus
Tetanus can be caused in various ways, such as bacteria getting into the host body through animal
bites, fractures, dental infection and wounds. The symptom of this disease is the individual would
