American Journal of Infection Control

In 1995, Mary Wilson described the Basic Concepts in Infectious Disease Emergence and concluded that “the current global situation favors disease emergence” (Table 1).1 The public health threats posed by emerging infectious diseases were further

As the world population is ageing,1 the number of people aged 65 and older in the United States are projected to nearly double in size from 49 million in 2016 (15% of population) to 95 million in 2060 (23% of population).2 With the significant aging

Effective and safe continuous surface and air decontamination technologies could be a useful adjunct to routine cleaning and disinfection in health care settings. Continuously active quaternary ammonium disinfectants that provide residual

The purpose of this paper is to update information regarding the best practices and products for preoperative bathing, surgical hand scrubs, surgical site preparation, daily chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing in intensive care units (ICUs) and non

In the article ..úHigh-level disinfection, sterilization, and hand hygiene: What do accreditation surveyors want to see?..Ñ by Sylvia Garcia-Houchins. in the October issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (2023;51(10):1182-84) was

Health care facility floors and sink drains and other wastewater drainage sites are universally contaminated with potential pathogens. There are plausible mechanisms by which organisms in these sites can be disseminated to environmental surfaces that

Each year in the United States there are approximately 53,000,000 outpatient surgical procedures and 46,000,000 inpatient surgical procedures.1 For example, there are at least 18 million gastrointestinal endoscopies per year.2 Each of these

Hospital patient room surfaces are frequently contaminated with multidrug-resistant organisms. Since studies have demonstrated that inadequate terminal room disinfection commonly occurs, ..úno touch..Ñ methods of terminal room disinfection have been

Hand hygiene continues to be considered 1 of the most important methods of preventing transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens and reducing the incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Issues affecting hand hygiene practices in

In the United States in 2010 there were approximately 51.4 million inpatient surgical procedures and an even larger number of invasive medical procedures.1 For example, there were over 6.9 million upper gastrointestinal (GI), 11.5 million lower GI