RESPIRATORY PROTECTION IN HEALTHCARE: AN INFECTION CONTROL PERSPECTIVE

(Invited Keynote)

Peter Hoffman

Laboratory of Healthcare-associated Infection, Health Protection Agency, UK

The healthcare sector is one of the less enthusiastic users of respiratory protection. This talk will give a brief overview of the mechanisms of infection transmission in healthcare and their relative efficiencies.  It will use this as a background to explore some of the infections where an airborne element of transmission is considered relevant and critically assess the likely contribution in each case.  Finally, it will look at UK guidance for respiratory protection in healthcare and outline critical gaps in our knowledge.  This last section will focus primarily on pandemic influenza.