A 9-year infection-control surveillance program in Sydney-based residential aged-care facilities

This comprehensive long-term surveillance programhas provided a valuable baseline rate of infection for comparison. It has also facilitated a proactive approach to infection prevention and control, such that problem areas and 'high-risk' periods can now be identified and managed. The application of this approach should be considered in other high-care residential settings - perhaps nationally, given the absence of uniform systematic surveillance systems in any Australian state or territory. However, there is a need to reviewand validate the 20-year-old American definitions of McGeer et al. for the contemporary Australian context.