ABSTRACT
Infectious disease outbreaks in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are common, can cause serious morbidity and mortality for residents, and can be time consuming to investigate and control. Epidemiologic investigation of these outbreaks can be as complicated as outbreak investigation in hospital settings, and yet fewer infection control resources are generally available in LTCFs. Despite these challenges, interdisciplinary infection control programs that include infection control professionals (ICPs), administrators, clinicians (e.g., physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants), pharmacists, laboratorians, and nursing staff can prevent many infectious disease outbreaks and successfully control those outbreaks that do occur.
