Sterilization
Sterilization can be defined as the act of completely destroying all living organisms on a surface. Using this definition, you can see that this is the most effective type of decontamination. Sterilization even destroys bacterial spores, which are the hardest to kill of any life form known to man.

Many professionals often use the terms "sterilization" and "sanitation" interchangeably. This is incorrect and should not be done. Further discussion of sanitization follows in the next section.

 Methods of sterilization and disinfection
  Chemical
Related to Destruction of Organisms
 1. Sterilization, sterile, sterilizer, sterilant, "sterilizing solution"
 2. Disinfection, disinfectant
 3. Sanitizers
 4. Antisepsis, antiseptic
 5. Germicide (cide: kill)
B. Related to Suppression of Organisms
 1. Bacteriostasis (stasis: halt)
 2. Asepsis (without infection)
 3. Degerming (as with skin remove and/or destroy)
 4. Sanitization (sanitizer) cleaning

 Temperature
 A. Low (5° C, -10° C) (-75° C -150° C)
 1. Factors affecting killing
 a. Rate of freezing
 b. Temperature in the frozen state
 c. Rate of thawing
 2. Not a method for sterilization but preservation

 B. High

1. Incineration e.g., inoculating loops, cadavers, etc. (1500° C+)

2. Dry heat (hot air oven) 175° C (350° F) for 2 hours, e.g., clean glassware
 and materials immiscible or injured by H2O

3. Moist heat
    a. 55-60° C for 30 min., e.g., vaccine preparation (+ preservative)
    b. Pasteurization e.g., milk, instruments, devices
        1. 62° C (143° F) for 30 min.
        2. 72° C (161° F) for 15 sec.
    c. Boiling - 100° C (212° F) for 10 min., e.g., instruments
    d. Free-flowing (live) steam (tyndallization, fractional sterilization;
 Arnold sterilizer) - 100° C for 30 min. for 3 consecutive days, e.g.,
 serum media
 (a., b., c., and d. are not sporicidal)
    e. Steam under pressure-autoclave, e.g., bacteriological media, rubber
 goods, and materials miscible with or not injured by H2O

4. Conditions
    a. 121° C at 15 lbs. pressure for 20 minutes (time)
    b. 135° C at 30 lbs. pressure for 3 minutes (time)

5. Factors influencing effectiveness of moist heat over dry heat
    a. Penetration
    b. Conduction
    c. Coagulation
    d. Latent heat of vaporization

6. Precautions for autoclaving
    a. All air replaced by steam
    b. Accessibility of steam to materials
    c. Containers not overfull
    d. Reduce pressure gradually (for liquids)

7. Mechanism of killing by moist heat - coagulation of protein


The most popular method of sterilization is the steam autoclave. The steam autoclave is very similar to a pressure cooker. Steam is injected into the autoclave chamber at very high pressure. When this is done, the extreme heat and pressure are able to get into every bit of surface area of the instruments or tools in the autoclave. When left in the autoclave for a sufficient amount of time, all living organisms will be killed.
Another popular method of sterilization is the use of dry heat. While the steam autoclave is much like a pressure cooker, the use of dry heat is more like an oven. Objects or instruments are placed in an oven-like chamber and "cooked" until all living organisms are killed.

Sanitization, which may also be called sanitation, is the lowest level of decontamination. Again, these terms are not interchangeable with sterilization.
Sanitization may be defined as the act of significantly reducing the presence of pathogens on a surface. In the Lab, this is accomplished by cleaning instruments,  countertops, etc. with soap or detergents.
It is important to remember that sanitized surfaces will still contain pathogens after they have been washed regardless of how clean they may appear. You may feel that washing your hands with anti-bacterial soap is an excellent way of cleaning your skin and, indeed, this is a method of sanitization. However, regardless of how clean your hands may appear afterward, they are still covered with microorganisms that are found in the water.


Disinfection
Disinfection is the second of the three levels of decontamination. It falls below sterilization only due to the fact that disinfection does not kill all living micro-organisms (bacterial spores remain after this process). Disinfection controls micro-organisms on surfaces of instruments.
Though disinfection does not destroy bacterial spores, it is the best line of defense against the spread of disease in the
Lab setting due to its practicality and ease. The complete elimination of bacterial spores is crucial only in physician offices or hospital settings.
Disinfectants are designed for use only on non-living surfaces such as tools, instruments or countertops. They are not to be used on human tissue. Disinfectants should never be used as hand cleaners. They are professional-strength substances designed to quickly destroy certain living organisms and may be quite damaging to skin.
Federal law requires manufacturers to include crucial information with their disinfectants. This information includes directions for proper use, safety pre-cautions, a list of active ingredients and an information sheet known as a Material Safety Data Sheet.
It is important to read all materials that accompany disinfectants to ensure that they are used correctly. Disinfectants that are misused are potentially very dangerous to you and your birds. Always use these substances in strict accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.