Final answer:
Surgical asepsis is the process of creating an environment completely free of microorganisms, a practice essential in medical settings to avoid infection during procedures with contamination risks. The correct answer is C.
Step-by-step explanation:
Creating a completely sterile environment without the presence of any microorganisms is known as surgical asepsis. This process is crucial in medical settings to prevent infection and maintain a sterile field during procedures that pose a risk of contamination. Surgical asepsis involves a set of protocols aimed at achieving sterilization, which refers to the complete removal or destruction of all vegetative cells, endospores, and viruses.
Techniques for achieving a sterile environment include the use of sterilized materials, specific procedures for washing, and the application of sterilants, which are chemicals capable of killing all forms of microbial life, including endospores. Other methods of microbial control, such as sanitation and disinfection, do not achieve the same level of cleanliness as surgical asepsis and are instead used to reduce the microbial load to safe levels.