According to the analysis, many patients experienced an emotional response to their diagnosis and described ‘feeling dirty,' ‘having the plague,' or ‘feeling like a leper.' While emotional responses varied based on the type of HAI, patients with nearly all colonization or infection types reported a fear of transmitting their infection to others. This fear affected patients' personal and workplace relationships. Some patients, particularly those colonized by MRSA, also expressed concern about working in certain professions because of their condition and a fear of rejection by coworkers. Patients who were able to speak to infection preventionists reported receiving constructive information and feeling reassured about their condition, whereas patients who did not, reported feeling dismissed by staff members. 'Having an HAI is a significant event in the patient's care journey and subsequent life that is influenced by biology, society, and context. Understanding the patient experience can help HCP to interact and respond in a constructive way, providing more effective support during this challenging time in a patient's healthcare experience,' explained Kay Currie, the lead author of the study. This qualitative review provides valuable insights into the patient perspective and how healthcare professionals can more effectively interact with their patients to enhance recovery in all areas of their lives. Turns out, mathematics can help public health workers understand and influence human behaviours that lead to the spread of infectious diseases. According to a study from the University of Waterloo, current models used to predict the emergence and evolution of pathogens within populations do not include social behaviour. Co-author Chris Bauch said, 'We tend to treat disease systems in isolation from social systems, and we don't often think about how they connect to each other or influence each other. This gives us a better appreciation of how social reactions to infectious diseases can influence which strains become prominent in the population.' This new addition to disease modelling could allow scientists to better prevent undesirable outcomes, such as more dangerous mutant strains from evolving and spreading. By adding dynamic social interactions to the models already used for disease outbreaks and evolution, researchers could better anticipate how a pathogen strain may emerge based on how humans attempt to control the spread of the disease. The social modelling could impact public health responses to emerging infectious diseases like Ebola and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). According to the analysis, many patients experienced an emotional response to their diagnosis and described ‘feeling dirty,' ‘having the plague,' or ‘feeling like a leper.' While emotional responses varied based on the type of HAI, patients with nearly all colonization or infection types reported a fear of transmitting their infection to others. This fear affected patients' personal and workplace relationships. Some