Journal of Advanced Nursing

I was intrigued to read the title of the above paper (Anaesthesia, 1976,31,658) as it describes a pathological impossibility. ‘Sepsis’ is something which occurs in a living animal or man and is characterised by pus formation, i.e. a cellular exudate. Similarly, ‘infection’ cannot occur in an inanimate object as the term refers t o a biological response by a host often characterised by pyrexia, leucocytosis, etc. Surely the correct term is ‘bacterial contamination’ of inanimate objects, which indeed is used frequently by the authors in their text. I feel sure that our colleagues in Bacteriology would be happier if anaesthetists used their carefully defined language in the correct manner.