CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA) definitsioon:

"Ongoing and systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data on hospital-acquired infections, the results of which are disseminated to these who need to know in order that action may be taken." 

Langmuir AD, N Eng J Med 1963; 268: 192

"A good surveillance system does not guarantee you will make the right decisions, but it reduces the chances of making the wrong ones."