ABSTRACT
Nosocomial, or hospital-acquired, infections have been a persistent problem in hospitals for over a century and they can have complex, multifaceted etiologies. The microorganisms that cause nosocomial infections have been well cataloged and the infections they cause are fairly well understood, but the traditional solutions, cleaning, scrubbing, disinfectants, ventilation, Ÿltration, management and procedural controls, etc., have failed to completely eliminate the problem. Even the most modern hospitals with the best personnel and equipment Ÿnd themselves stymied by the persistence of these insidious pathogens and their endless intrusions into hospital wards and operating rooms. A single nosocomial infection can wipe out the efforts of the most skilled surgeons and incur untold costs to the hospital, as well as result in tragic fatalities. Nosocomial infections can spread throughout hospital wards in epidemic-like fashion, even reaching rooms on —oors far from the original source. The degree to which most of these infections are airborne is not well understood, but a growing body of evidence, much of which is presented in this book, indicates that the airborne component of nosocomial infections is not insigniŸcant.
