The introduction sets out the scope of this book, an interdisciplinary volume that includes work from ten leading historians, healthcare professionals and policy makers who consider the history, practice and future of infection control since the mid-nineteenth century. Infection prevention and control is one of the twenty-first century’s most challenging problems, as indicated by global concerns about antimicrobial resistance (AMR). But most attention has been paid to antimicrobial drugs, rather than the personnel, practices and alternative technologies associated with hospital infection control, or the history of hospital practice. The essays in this volume bring a new perspective to a pressing global problem.