Revision of the infection control guidelines

The Communicable Diseases Network Australia New Zealand (CDNANZ) is reviewing the current infection control guidelines, Infection Control in the Health Care Setting: Guidelines for the Prevention of Transmission of Infectious Diseases 1996 and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Other Human Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies: Guidelines on patient management and infection control 1995.

These guidelines outline the principles of infection control and provide a rationale against which practitioners and health care establishments can develop detailed protocols and systems for infection control that are relevant to their own area of health care. A constantly changing health care environment requires that the guidelines be reviewed to ensure that they continue to provide best practice technical and ethical information.

A Steering Committee has been established to oversee the review, with scientific and administrative support from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

As part of the review, the Steering Committee is seeking comments from users of the current documents on their utility, and on ways in which they might be improved. To assist the provision of feedback comments, a questionnaire has been developed and is available on the Public Health Division website. The guidelines can also be viewed on this website.

Completed questionnaires and suggestions should be forwarded to the NCDC at the following address by close of business on 13 November 1998:

E-mail address: icgreview@health.gov.au

Postal address:
Review of Infection Control Guidelines
National Centre for Disease Control (MDP6)
Department of Health and Family Services
GPO Box 9848
CANBERRA, ACT, 2601


This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 22, No 10, 1 October 1998.