Infection control: do we all have a role to play?

Infection control became a recognised discipline in 1970. Its principles, however, had been in existence for some time. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Semelweiss showed the importance of hand washing in coping with the transmission of infections. Better acceptance of Semelweiss's idea came after Pasteur, Lister and Koch related asepsis to the prevention of the spread of infection. Florence Nightingale, on the other hand, at about the same time, made a remarkable contribution to sanitation and isolation practices.