Emerging Pathogen Threats: Strategies for Infection Prevention and Control

Course overview

In today's rapidly evolving world, emerging pathogen threats pose significant challenges for infection preventionists. As new infectious agents continue to emerge and spread, it is imperative to develop and implement effective infection prevention and control strategies to safeguard patients, visitors, and staff within healthcare facilities. This session aims to delve into the dynamic landscape of emerging pathogen threats, touch on their origins, modes of transmission, and potential impact on populations. The present and most likely near future pathogen threats for the United States and those with potential risk due to high global connectivity will be examined drawing from global surveillance data. Measures that should be taken for travelers entering healthcare facilities to reduce the risk of misdiagnosis, delays in diagnosis, or delays in implementation of appropriate infection control measures will be explored. Understanding the epidemiology, including transmission routes of novel pathogens is key to controlling them. This session will address infection prevention and control measures that should be implemented to control the spread of novel pathogens within and between healthcare facilities. Subtleties in transmission-based precautions and cleaning and disinfecting against selected emerging pathogens will be highlighted. The over-arching goal of this session is to provide infection preventionists with the knowledge and tools to adequately respond to these urgent threats