Welcome to the 2nd Edition of Infection Control: Basic Concepts and Practices. The Board of Directors of the International Federation of Infection Control (IFIC), the corporate sponsors and the authors of this text hope that you find it useful.

IFIC, founded in 1987, is a federation of infection prevention and control societies from more than 35 countries around the globe. The purpose of IFIC is to help translate research findings into infection control practices suitable for the particular situation in which each member organisation is working. Thus IFIC is an organization for education and applied science related to prevention of infections related to health care. To accomplish this, the organization provides a communication network to promote education, training and exchange of information among the member societies with particular emphasis on assisting those with limited resources. The goals of the federation are to:

• promote high quality educational opportunities, materials and training programs across countries at low cost. Conferences are held at least annually; in addition, IFIC provides educational infection control content and speakers for conferences organized by other organizations.
• provide a communication network of support by members via the newsletter, IFIC Bulletin, the website (www.theific.org), and email.
• maintain a liaison with the World Health Organisation and other organisations that promote infection prevention including prevention and management of occupational blood exposures among health care workers.
• draw on the expertise of member organizations to help each other and to assist with formation of national societies in countries that are in early stages of infection control development.

The purpose of infection control is to reduce risk for patients and personnel for infections related to health care. Many of the essential methods to accomplish this in any and all health care settings are included in Basic Concepts and Practices. Three new chapters are included: “The costs of hospital infection” by Gary French, MD; “Economic evaluation in infection control” by Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH; “Infection control information resources” by Nizam Damani, MBBS, MSc. References guide the reader to information in more depth. Additionally, a series of monographs that explore each fundamental concept are being developed; information will be posted to the website: www.theific.org

Members of the IFIC Infection Control: Basic Concepts Working Group:

• Gary French, MD, FRCPath, FRCPA , UK
• Patricia Lynch, RN, MBA , USA
• Anna Hambraeus, MD, PhD , Sweden
• Shaheen Mehtar , MB BS FRCPath
• Prof. Dr. Peter Heeg, Germany
• Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH , USA
• Hans Joern Kolmos MD DMSc, Denmark
• Moira Walker, RN, CIC, Canada
• Nizam Damani, MBBS, MSc, FRCPath, N. Ireland
• Ge rtie van Knippenberg-Gordebeke, Holland
• Candace Friedman, BS, MT(ASCP), MPH, CIC

Special thanks to the editors, Gary French and Candace Friedman