Syndromic screening for infection prevention and control measures during public health emergencies

Overview

This technical note describes a simplified screening approach for health-care settings to engage in the early detection and safe placement of patients with syndromes of suspected infections that are known to rapidly transmit as health care-associated infections. This includes active and passive screening tools that may facilitate systematic screening of all patients – both inpatients and outpatients – for signs and symptoms of suspected infectious rash, infectious diarrhoea or acute respiratory infection. Also included is contextual information relevant to implementing syndromic screening for IPC measures in the context of public health emergencies and advice for linking syndromic screening with emergency surveillance systems.