This page has information on Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (HAI/AR) outbreak investigation resources in Washington.
Department of Health Links
Influenza (Flu) Information for Public Health and Healthcare | Washington State Department of Health
Healthcare Outbreak Investigations
DOH supports local health jurisdictions with healthcare-associated infection and outbreak investigations. These investigations may include bloodborne pathogen exposures, other infection control breaches, and suspected drug diversion in healthcare facilities.
To contact the HAI Epi Outbreak Investigation Team, email HAIEpiOutbreakTeam@doh.wa.gov.
To contact the HAI Multidrug Resistant Organism Team, email MDRO-AR@doh.wa.gov.
All suspected or confirmed healthcare outbreaks are reportable as notifiable conditions (Washington Administrative Code 246-101-101).
Medical Tourism
Medical tourism refers to traveling to another country for medical care, either for a medical procedure or to buy prescription medication. People may access medical tourism for a variety of reasons, including lower cost, cultural preferences, ability to access procedures that are not available in the US, or obtaining medications without a prescription. Medical tourism has been associated with post-procedure infection and exposure to counterfeit medications.
- CDC Medical Tourism
- CDC Outbreak Investigations in Healthcare Settings
- CDC Yellow Book Medical Tourism
Resources
These resources offer guidance and protocols tailored to various aspects of HAI/AR outbreak management.
- CDC HAI Prevention Toolkits
- Council for Outbreak Response: Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens (CORHA)
- Investigating Healthcare-associated Cases and Outbreaks | Legionnaires' Disease | CDC
- Targeted Multidrug-resistant Organism Prevention and Response Toolkit | Washington State Department of Health
Contact Us
For more information, please contact us at hai@doh.wa.gov