Infection control is the discipline related to the prevention of nosocomial infection or associated with health care, a practical (rather than academic) subdiscipline of epidemiology. It is an essential part of the health care infrastructure, although it is often not recognized or supported. Infection control and hospital epidemiology are similar to the practice of public health, practiced within the limits of a given health service delivery system, rather than addressing society as a whole. Anti-infective agents include antibiotics, antibacterials, antifungal, antiviral and antiprotozoal agents.
Infection control addresses factors related to the spread of infections within the health setting (whether patient-to-patient, patient-to-patient, or patient-to-patient), including prevention (through hand hygiene (Disinfection / sterilization, vaccination, surveillance), monitoring / investigation of proven or suspected spread of infection in a given health center (surveillance and outbreak investigation) and management (outbreak disruption). It is on this basis that the common title being adopted in health care is "prevention and control of infections".