ARHAI Scotland have undertaken a review of the ‘exceptional infection episode’ definition within Chapter 3 of the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM).

The definition of ‘an exceptional infection episode’ has been updated. This is to provide additional clarity and the scientific evidence base which informs this literature review remains extant.

The previous definition stated: ‘A single case of an infection that has severe outcomes for an individual patient OR has major implications for others (patients, staff and/or visitors), the organisation or wider public health e.g., infectious diseases of high consequence such as VHF or XDR-TB, botulism, polio, rabies, diphtheria.’

The updated definition now states:

• a single case of rare infection that has severe outcomes for an individual AND has major implications for others (patients, staff and/or visitors), the organisation or wider public health for example, high consequence infectious disease (HCID) OR other rare infections such as XDR-TB, botulism, polio, rabies, or diphtheria.

Please refer to the current healthcare infection incidents and outbreaks literature review which has been also updated and contains further information.