Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Oct 14;10(10):1244.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10101244.

Infection Control in the Era of COVID-19: A Narrative Review

Nour Shbaklo  1 , Tommaso Lupia  2 , Francesco G De Rosa  1   2 , Silvia Corcione  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Infection Control in the Era of COVID-19: A Narrative Review

Nour Shbaklo et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

COVID-19 quickly became a pandemic causing millions of infections and mortalities. It required real-time adjustments to healthcare systems and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to limit the spread and protect healthcare providers and hospitalized patients. IPC guidelines were adopted and developed based on experience gained during the MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV outbreaks. The aim of this narrative review is to summarize current evidence on IPC in healthcare settings and patients with COVID-19 to prevent nosocomial infections during the actual pandemic. A search was run on PubMed using the terms ('COVID-19' [Mesh]) AND ('Infection Control' [Mesh]) between 2019 and 2021. We identified 86 studies that were in accordance with our aim and summarized them under certain themes as they related to COVID-19 infection control measures. All the guidelines recommend early diagnosis and rapid isolation of COVID-19 patients. The necessary precautions should be taken comprising the whole process, starting with an infectious disease plan, administrative and engineering controls, triage, and PPE training. Guidelines should target modes of transmission, droplet, aerosol, and oral-fecal, while recommending control precautions. Healthcare facilities must promptly implement a multidisciplinary defense system to combat the outbreak.

Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare-associated infection; infection control.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow-chart of studies screened and included in the analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Infection prevention and control cornerstones in COVID-19.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO Pneumonia of Unknown Cause—China. [(accessed on 12 October 2021)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-ch...
    1. De Rosa F.G., Palazzo A., Rosso T., Shbaklo N., Mussa M., Boglione L., Borgogno E., Rossati A., Mornese Pinna S., Scabini S., et al. Risk Factors for Mortality in COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients in Piedmont, Italy: Results from the Multicenter, Regional, CORACLE Registry. J. Clin. Med. 2021;10:1951. doi: 10.3390/jcm10091951. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li Q., Guan X., Wu P., Wang X., Zhou L., Tong Y., Ren R., Leung K.S.M., Lau E.H.Y., Wong J.Y., et al. Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus–Infected Pneumonia. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;382:1199–1207. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001316. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lupia T., Corcione S., de Rosa F.G. COVID-19: In the uncertainty, do not try this at home. Intern. Emerg. Med. 2020;15:1599–1600. doi: 10.1007/s11739-020-02471-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yan Y., Shin W.I., Pang Y.X., Meng Y., Lai J., You C., Zhao H., Lester E., Wu T., Pang C.H. The First 75 Days of Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Outbreak: Recent Advances, Prevention, and Treatment. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020;17:2323. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17072323. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources