The Chain of Infection consists of 6 key elements. The focus in all strategy’s deployed in Infection Control Prevention and Management is to break the chain of infection to stop further transmission.
The chain of infection can be broken at any point in the cycle – the ability to able to break the chain at any point is a fundamental concept that all staff need to support to understand.
The Chain of Infection
The spread of infection can be described as a chain with six links:
- Infectious agent (pathogen)
- Reservoir (where the infectious agent lives and reproduces)
- Portal of exit from the reservoir
- Mode of transmission
- Portal of entry into a host
- Susceptible host
Knowledge Section – Confirming knowledge amongst the team is key!
At the end of each section of the policy there is a Learning Knowledge Section for the reader to complete.
The knowledge section summarises key learning messages of the Standard Infection Control Precaution [SICP] discussed.