Nosocomial infection control: scope and implications for health care--a historical view.

Knowing where we have come from helps to decide where we should be going. Many principles and practices of modern infection control were developed in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The story is one of halting, yet relentless, progress. The history of these discoveries and their application to infection control, then and now, is described, such as principles of hygiene, antiseptic surgery, antimicrobial therapy, and improved hospital design. Many of the issues today are not new, nor are some of the fundamental solutions. An acceptance of this historical continuum may temper expectations and make us more accepting of change.