In the realm of hospital infection control there is a constant struggle to raise compliance rates with contact precautions. These measures are instituted when a patient harbors an organism that poses a transmission risk that is deemed to pose too great a threat to others in the hospital. MRSA, VRE, and C.diff are the big three but other conditions such as active tuberculosis and influenza also require isolation precautions.
In most of these cases, contact precautions are considered burdensome and often result in less healthcare contact with such patients as healthcare providers eschew donning the gown and gloves required to comply with hospital regulation.
However, 2 pathogens unequivocally prompt full compliance and when you see doctors and nurses meticulously ensuring their personal protective equipment is being worn appropriately you can be sure one of these two pathogens are present.
It's not MDR-TB or measles that merits such mindfulness, but lice and scabies!
It strikes me as paradoxical that such minor and easily treated pathogens strike fear in the heart of healthcare providers at such a momentous scale.
Maybe a continual epidemic of lice, co-infected those with MRSA, C.diff, and VRE, is all that's needed to ensure compliance with infection control.