Hand hygiene and health-care-associated infections.

Abstract

Despite wide acknowledgment that hand hygiene is the pre-eminent measure in the control of health-care-associated infection, Didier Pittet and colleagues 1 have highlighted that there is still a need for a systematic programme of research that will allow the development of new¿as well as refinement of existing¿approaches to hand cleansing. One of the key priorities Pittet and colleagues identified is the need for investigations into the relative importance of between and within patient cross-transmission