Basic infection control - a highly topical field in veterinary medicine, human medicine and society at large

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 outbreak that began in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China, is a pandemic that spreads quickly and creates major challenges for global public health and the economy. It is unknown how big the consequences of the outbreak will be, but in the worst case they can be large in several countries. Infectious diseases have throughout history constituted an extensive burden for animals and humans globally, and new, serious infectious agents will continue to emerge and challenge public and animal health. The most significant infections in humans originated from animals, which shows that the health of animals and humans is closely linked. Society must therefore always have solid preparedness against serious infections in both animals and humans. Infection control includes measures to prevent and manage health threats related to infectious diseases. It is therefore crucial that professional environments, authorities, businesses and society in general give this area a high priority and know how to do it at all times act when this type of crisis occurs. In this article, a number of basic terms related to infection control are defined, and an overview of risk assessments of sources of infection is given. One section discusses infection control in a historical, sociological and political context, and an overview of infection control measures in veterinary medicine is also presented, as well as some assessments when choosing measures. Finally, the authors come up with some thoughts about the role of the veterinary professions in the future work on infection control.