Since 1914, many troops, prisoners and even doctors were infected, and at least 150,000 died from typhus in Serbia, 50,000 of whom were prisoners. Delousing stations were established for troops on the Western Front, but the disease ravaged the armies of the Eastern Front. Fatalities were generally between 10 and 40 percent of those infected, and the disease was a major cause of death for those nursing the sick. During World War I and the Russian Civil War between the White and Red, the typhus epidemic caused 2–3 million deaths out of 20–30 million cases in Russia between 1918 and 1922. Typhus caused hundreds of thousands of deaths during World War II. It struck the German Army during Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia, in 1941. In 1942 and 1943 typhus hit French North Africa, Egypt and Iran particularly hard. Typhus epidemics killed inmates in the Nazi concentration camps and death camps such as Auschwitz, Dachau, Theresienstadt, and Bergen-Belsen. Footage shot at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp shows the mass graves for typhus victims. Anne Frank, at age 15, and her sister Margot both died of typhus in the camps. Even larger epidemics in the post-war chaos of Europe were averted only by the widespread use of the newly discovered DDT to kill lice on the millions of refugees and displaced persons.Following the development of a vaccine during World War II, Western Europe and North America have been able to prevent epidemics. These have usually occurred in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Africa, particularly Ethiopia.
Training that is conducted "face to face", via a computer, or via video conferencing may help improve compliance and reduce errors when compared with "folder based" training (providing health care professionals with written information or instructions).In the United States, Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology is a private company that certifies infection control practitioners based on their educational background and professional experience, in conjunction with testing their knowledge base with standardized exams. The credential awarded is CIC, Certification in Infection Control and Epidemiology. It is recommended that one has 2 years of Infection Control experience before applying for the exam. Certification must be renewed every five years.A course in hospital epidemiology (infection control in the hospital setting) is offered jointly each year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Standardization
Australia
In 2002, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners published a revised standard for office-based infection control which covers the sections of managing immunisation, sterilisation and disease surveillance. However, the document on the personal hygiene of health workers is only limited to hand hygiene, waste and linen management, which may not be sufficient since some of the pathogens are air-borne and could be spread through air flow.Since 1 November 2019, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has managed the Hand Hygiene initiative in Australia, an initiative focused on improving hand hygiene practices to reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections.