ABSTRACT
While many countries throughout the world have particular infection problems, the task of infectionpreventionandcontrolissurelyglobal.Ÿebasicprinciplesareapplicableonaworldwidebasis. Ÿisisnomorerelevantthantothedecontaminationofmedicaldevicesusedinsurgicalprocedures. Instrumentsthatarenotdecontaminatedproperlycanactasavectoroftransmissionforminorand, unfortunately,fatalconditions.Ÿereisthusaneedforasetofdecontaminationproceduresthatare universalinthesensethatthetypeanddegreeofpossiblecontaminationonareusableinstrumentneed notbeknownpriortoreprocessing.Ÿisuniversal-orstandard-setofprecautionsmusttherefore bebasedontheworst-casescenario,sothatifpatientsareprotectedfromthatsituationthenallother conditions will be suitably treated.
