What basic practices are essential to prevent transmission among staff during a biological incident?

• A. Hand hygiene, appropriate PPE, and early isolation
• B. Vaccination of all staff only
• C. No isolation, only decontamination
• D. Delaying reporting to public health

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is using infection-control basics to stop staff from transmitting pathogens during a biological incident. Hand hygiene is the first line of defense; washing hands or using an alcohol-based sanitizer removes pathogens that can spread when touching people, surfaces, or shared equipment. Wearing appropriate personal protective equipment creates a barrier between you and potential sources of infection, reducing the chance of exposure through contact, droplets, or splashed materials. Early isolation of anyone who is contagious helps prevent the pathogen from moving from one person to many others, breaking transmission chains at the source.

Vaccination of all staff isn’t enough on its own because vaccines aren’t available for every agent, may not be ready immediately, and don’t guarantee protection for all routes of transmission. Focusing only on decontamination ignores the risk of person-to-person spread, which isolation helps prevent. Delaying reporting to public health slows the response and doesn’t substitute for the protective effect of proper hand hygiene, PPE, and isolation.