Quarantine refers to the physical separation (including restrictions on movement) of well persons who are believed to be at risk of being infected with a contagious pathogen to limit disease spread. It is not to be confused with “isolation” which focuses on separating people who actually have signs and symptoms of infection, and it differs from preventive vaccination.
The purpose of quarantine is to reduce the number of people who become ill by stopping them from infecting others, and it is one of a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions that may be used in response to an outbreak of a novel infectious disease. As such, it is a vital tool for containing a disease that would otherwise rapidly spread to infect large numbers of people and overwhelm the healthcare system.
However, the effectiveness of quarantine depends on a range of factors and there is some uncertainty over its role in controlling an outbreak, especially at the early stage of an epidemic. The use of quarantine can lead to legal disputes and chaotic scenes of confrontation, and adherence can be difficult even under voluntary procedures. In some cases, law enforcement officers are required to enforce quarantine orders.
This article provides an overview of the current state of evidence on quarantine. It includes a synthesis of quantitative comparative studies, modelling studies, qualitative research, and case studies. A comprehensive search of PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE Plus, Embase, and CINAHL was performed to identify articles on the subject.