Final answer:
Aseptic refers to being free of pathogens. Antiseptics are used for microbial control on tissues to prevent infection. Aseptic technique involves protocols to maintain sterility during medical procedures.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term aseptic refers to an environment or procedure that is free of pathogens. In medical contexts, aseptic technique is a method or protocol designed to maintain a sterile state, preventing contamination with microbes and infectious agents.
This technique is critical during clinical procedures to avoid introducing microbes into a patient's body, which could result in severe infections or sepsis. For microbial control on tissues to prevent infection, the use of antiseptics is most suitable, as they are chemicals safe enough for use on living tissues to reduce microbial load without causing harm.
Therefore, in response to the student's question, aseptic means E) free of pathogens. A protocol that inhibits the growth of molds and yeast is described as fungistatic. The term used to describe the time required to kill all microbes within a sample at a given temperature is thermal death time. Moreover, the microbial control method that physically removes microbes rather than killing or inhibiting their growth is filtration.