Infectious Disease Prevention, Surveillance, and Control in Primary Care

Primary care stands at the frontline of health systems, playing a pivotal role in early disease detection, patient management, and community-based prevention. Its accessibility and continuity, together with long-term patient relationships and a deep understanding of local social and cultural contexts, place primary care in a unique position to strengthen infectious disease prevention and control, particularly among vulnerable and mobile populations. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the critical role of primary care in epidemic preparedness and response, while also exposing persistent challenges in surveillance infrastructure, workforce capacity, digital integration, and coordination across systems. Stronger community-based monitoring, expanded diagnostic capabilities, and improved communication channels are needed to ensure faster outbreak detection and response, while limited capacity, workforce shortages, and inconsistent policies continue to challenge primary care’s ability to effectively prevent and control infectious diseases.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how primary care can contribute to effective infectious disease prevention, surveillance, outbreak response, and community-based disease control across diverse healthcare settings. It seeks to examine the effective integration of public health functions into primary care, explore the role of technology in early detection, and assess lessons learned to strengthen system resilience, including preparedness for imported and travel-related infectious diseases among mobile populations. Particular attention is given to the role of primary care in vaccination and immunization, including strategies to improve coverage, address vaccine hesitancy, and prevent and control vaccine-preventable diseases, as well as to the prevention, early detection, and management of food- and water-borne infectious diseases, which remain a significant and often under-addressed burden in primary care practice. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among clinicians, policymakers, epidemiologists, and data scientists, this Research Topic aims to generate evidence-based approaches that enhance the preventive and surveillance capabilities of primary care worldwide.To gather further insights into the intersection of infectious diseases control and primary care practice, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Infectious disease surveillance systems within primary care infrastructures• Developing resilient primary healthcare networks to respond to endemic, epidemic, outbreak-related, and imported infectious diseases• Digital health tools, AI, and big data for monitoring emergent infectious diseases and supporting outbreak control• Workforce training and capacity building for infectious disease surveillance and response in primary care• Policy frameworks and governance supporting primary care-led surveillance systems• Community engagement and trust-building in infectious disease prevention• Vaccination and immunization strategies in primary care, including approaches to improve coverage, address vaccine hesitancy, and prevent and control vaccine-preventable diseases• Prevention, detection, and management of food- and water-borne infectious diseases in primary care settings Topic editors: Antonio Sarría-Santamera, Ruth Jimbo-Sotomayor, Xavier Sánchez Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84366/infectious-disease-prevention-surveillance-and-control-in-primary-care