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The field of emergency medical care and rescue, by the very nature of its environment, is a reservoir in the transmission of potentially serious healthcare-associated infections to both patients and staff. Studies on infection control thus far have been largely hospital based. This quantitative, non experimental study took place in an EMS in South Africa. It used a cross-sectional,descriptive design to investigate aspects of ambulance infection control, by determining micro-organism contamination and assessing the infection control knowledge and practices of staff.The findings were of concern.Many challenges common to ambulance services worldwide were identified, that restricted ambulance staff in the performance of adequate infection control. This book will be of interest to members of the EMS and medical microbiology community who want to develop and implement evidence-based ambulance infection control guidelines. The recommendations, together with the identification of future areas of study will be of interest to persons who want to research, design and implement infection control guidelines for the EMS industry.

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Sageshin Naguran, Magister Technologiae: Studied Emergency Medical Care at the Durban University of Technology. He is currently the Head of Department and lecturer at the Department of Emergency Medical Care and Rescue, Durban University of Technology, South Africa. He is a registered Emergency Care Practitioner.

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