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By Kelly M. Pyrek
Highlights from ICPIC 2025: A Global Perspective on Infection Prevention
By Kelly M. Pyrek
The International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control
( ICPIC 2025) assembled thought leaders from across the globe as they addressed a wide range of imperatives in infection disease, infection prevention and public health. Let’ s dive into some of the most pertinent highlights.
AIRBORNE TRANSMISSION New terminology for old transmission patterns
One of the liveliest sessions at ICPIC 2025 was a debate on the topic of“ IPC Implications of the New Terminology to Define Airborne Transmission: Pros and Cons.“
Taking the pro perspective in the presentation,“ The Need for a Revision of Transmission-based Precautions of Respiratory Pathogens” was Walter Zingg, senior physician in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, who discussed the April 8, 2024 release by the World Health Organization( WHO) of a global technical consultation report introducing updated terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air. The pathogens covered include those that cause respiratory infections, e. g. COVID-19, influenza, measles, Middle East respiratory syndrome( MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome( SARS), and tuberculosis, among others. The WHO publication, titled“ Global technical consultation report on proposed terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air,” is the result of a multi-year, collaborative effort and reflects shared agreement on terminology between WHO, experts and four health agencies: Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; and the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC).
Zingg noted that the purpose of development of the document, triggered partly by the pandemic, was to expand terminology to consider other respiratory pathogens. As the document states,“ The challenge became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as experts from various sectors were required to provide scientific and policy guidance. Varying terminologies highlighted gaps in common understanding and contributed to challenges in public communication and efforts to curb the transmission of the pathogen.”
“ What are the implications for IP & C, considering the dichotomy between droplets and aerosol that has been eliminated with this new terminology?” Zingg asked before diving into the details of the document.
He explained that,“ Transmission in the strictest sense describes the physical part of how something gets from A to B. In the medical field, transmission has physical and biological components; physics describes only some aspects of pathogen transmission. Biological, chemical, physiological, and physical determinants and drivers of transmission include shedding of pathogens and physical symptoms; production of infectious respiratory particles; emission of infectious respiratory particles; physical behavior of the particles in the air such as evaporation, biochemical degradation, gravity, humidity, temperature, pressure and air flow / ventilation; composition of particles; inhalation of infectious respiratory particles; attachment to respiratory surfaces; and cell entry and infection, virulence of the virus.”
Zingg continued,“ Pathogens need to be shed, and clinical symptoms come into play. So, it depends where you shed before you have symptoms or during symptoms. And shedding is a dynamic process, it’ s not a steady state. Production of infectious respiratory particles depends on whether they are produced in the alveoli or in the upper respiratory tract, emission of infectious respiratory particles and the physical behavior of these particles in the air. Factors favoring infection include high virulence of the pathogen;
14 • www. healthcarehygienemagazine. com • nov-dec 2025