By way of introduction, Dr. Nyström described the hospital system in Sweden which is organized in a pyramidal fashion within each county. The largest hospital in each county contains a Department of Clinical Microbiology and the organization of hospital infection control activities follows this county structure.

An infection control unit is located within the clinical microbiology laboratory of the major county hospital. The head of the unit, the hospital epidemiologist, is usually a specialist in clinical microbiology with medical training. The epidemiologist has an infection control committee consisting of clinicians of various specialties, especially surgeons. There are usually two infection control nurses per county (now approximately 1 nurse/3000 beds with an eventual goal of 1 nurse/1000 to 1500 beds). The nurses advise the ward staff in all the county hospitals. There are only some 50 infection control nurses in Sweden; financial restrictions curtail the development of infection control activities.