So when it comes to controlling microbial growth, there's actually a lot of terminology that is used. In this video, we're going to introduce some of the terms of microbial growth control. There are several terms used in relation to controlling microbial growth, including decontamination, sanitization, disinfection, sterilization, and preservation.
The first term on this list is decontamination. Decontamination is a broad and general term that refers to the overall reduction of the number of pathogens or disease-causing agents to a safe level. The next term is sanitization. Sanitization is a more specific term that refers to cleaning and reducing pathogens in order to meet accepted public health standards to help minimize disease. Things that have been sanitized are going to have the appearance of being clean, thereby reducing pathogens similar to decontamination, except sanitization also meets accepted public health standards.
Next, we have disinfection. Disinfection is the elimination of most, but not all, pathogens. Through disinfection, most pathogens are eliminated, but it is possible for some viable or living microbes to remain, especially those that are resistant, such as endospores. This fact distinguishes disinfection from sterilization, which is the elimination of all microbes, except for prions, which are proteinaceous infectious agents. Sterilization eliminates all other microbes such as microorganisms, viruses, and even resistant endospores.
The last term we discuss is preservation. Preservation is the process of delaying, rather than killing cells. This process delays the spoilage of perishable products, usually by delaying the growth of microorganisms. Perishable products are items that are likely to go bad quickly. Preservation delays the spoilage process instead of eliminating it.
Moving forward in our course, we'll be able to talk about some methods of preservation. Starting with decontamination, which, as mentioned before, is a broad and general term that refers to the reduction of the number of pathogens to a safe level. This term can be used broadly in many different scenarios. Sanitization reduces the number of pathogens specifically to meet public health standards, which helps minimize the spread of disease. Objects that have been sanitized, such as sanitized tables, reduce the number of pathogens to public health standards, thus being less toxic to humans and having the appearance of being clean.
Then we have disinfection, which again is the elimination of most pathogens. A disinfectant, used in a spray bottle by a scientist, eliminates most pathogens, although some are still capable of surviving. Disinfectants are slightly more toxic to humans in comparison to sanitizers. For sterilization, it refers to the elimination of all microbes, except for prions, using methods such as radiation. All microbes are eliminated in sterilization, which is a critical distinction from disinfection, where some microbes might survive. Finally, in preservation, we use techniques such as refrigeration to delay spoilage of perishable items like food.
As we progress in our course, we will primarily discuss methods of controlling microbial growth through disinfection and sterilization, but we will also touch on preservation techniques. This concludes our brief introduction to the terminology of microbial growth control, and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward. I'll see you all in our next video.