Quarantine

Key Stage 4

A picture of the Apollo 11 astronauts in quarantine after their return from the first Moon landings.

Meaning

Quarantine is to isolate an infected organism from others to prevent the spread of the infection.

About Quarantine

Quarantine is used when a highly infectious pathogen or a deadly pathogen has infected an organism.

Quarantine involves placing the infected organism into a room alone. The air into and out of the room is filtered to prevent the spread of airborne pathogens spreading and anyone who enters the room wears protective clothing and washes thoroughly when leaving the room. Any equipment taken out of the room is disinfected and antiseptics are used by the person leaving the room to wash their skin.