News|Slideshows|December 24, 2025

ICT’s Top 5 Must-Read Articles of 2025

ICT’s top articles of 2025 spanned essential glove-use standards, CDC guidance on H5N1 monitoring, AI-driven infection prevention in operating rooms, advanced influenza surveillance for public health reporting, and APIC’s warning on communication restrictions that threaten outbreak response. Together, they highlight the evolving, high-stakes role of infection prevention in safeguarding health care and communities.

In 2025, Infection Control Today® (ICT®) published timely, high-impact articles addressing some of the most urgent challenges facing infection prevention professionals. From frontline fundamentals to emerging threats and transformative technologies, these pieces captured the science, policy, and practice shaping patient safety and public health.

Why These Mattered

These 5 articles rose to the top in 2025 because they spoke directly to the realities that infection prevention personnel faced in real time. They addressed not only what needed to be done, but why it mattered clinically, operationally, and ethically. From reinforcing the fundamentals of glove use to confronting emerging threats like H5N1, these pieces underscored that infection prevention lives at the intersection of science, vigilance, and accountability.

They also captured a pivotal moment for the field: rapid technological advancement, evolving surveillance demands, and growing concern over transparency and public trust. Together, these articles reflected the expanding scope and influence of infection prevention and the critical role infection preventionists (IPs), epidemiologists, and other infection prevention and control personnel play in protecting patients, staff, and public health when it matters most.


Related to this article

Image of Pathogens flying   (Adobe Stock weerasak)
Behind every landmark in infection prevention, from antimicrobial stewardship guidelines to the COVID-19 town halls that reached flight attendants and teachers, is a generation of physician-scientists who led SHEA through crises, organizational change, and scientific breakthroughs. Infection Control Today traces 30 years of SHEA presidents and the lasting mark they left on the field.
A brightly lit Hospital operating room, a surgical team wearing gowns and masks.  (Adobe Stock 1790696595 by Damian)
Turnover pressure can leave critical OR cleaning steps unfinished. Karen deKay, MSN, RN, EBP-C, CNOR, CIC, FAPIC, examines common gaps in environmental hygiene and how shared responsibilities, attention to disinfectant contact time, and ongoing education can help teams strengthen practices between cases.