What is the primary strategy a nurse can use to control communicable disease?

• A. Disease reporting
• B. Proper handwashing
• C. Home safety assessment
• D. Injury prevention education

Answer: (B)

Hand hygiene disrupts the transmission of infectious agents at the most vulnerable point: the hands. Thorough washing with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand rub removes or kills pathogens that you may have picked up from patients, surfaces, or bodily fluids, preventing them from entering your own or a patient’s body (through the mouth, nose, or eyes) or being passed to others. This practice is the cornerstone of standard precautions and reduces the spread of a wide range of organisms, making it the primary strategy for controlling communicable disease in daily care.

While disease reporting supports public health surveillance and home safety or injury prevention targets other risks, none of those actions directly reduce person-to-person transmission the way proper handwashing does.