Final answer:
The vast majority of contaminants and pathogens can be removed from tools and implements through proper sanitizing, but sterilization provides a higher level of microbial control by completely removing or killing all vegetative cells, endospores, and viruses. Antiseptics are used on tissues, while filtration physically removes microbes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The vast majority of contaminants and pathogens can be removed from the surfaces of tools and implements through proper sanitizing. Sanitization is a process that cleanses items to a level deemed safe for public health, such as the sanitization of dishes using very hot water and air in commercial dishwashers. However, compared to sterilization, which is the complete removal or killing of all vegetative cells, endospores, and viruses, sanitization does not necessarily achieve this level of microbial control. For items requiring less stringent levels of cleanliness, such as those that will come into contact with intact skin rather than sterile tissues, general cleanliness practices or the process of disinfection, which inactivates most microbes using chemicals or heat, may be appropriate.
For microbial control on tissues to prevent infection, antiseptics are used because they are suitable for use on living tissues. Sterilants are potent enough to achieve sterilization but are generally not safe for living tissues. Methods like filtration do not kill microbes; instead, they remove them physically without affecting microbial viability.