At a glance: this study shows that 14 days’ culture is necessary to reliably detect periprosthetic infection.

At a glance: in the Netherlands ribotype O78 is the second commonest ribotype of C. difficile, is associated with a younger population, and is more frequently community-associated than is O27.

At a glance: this study showed that the AST N-054 gram negative sensitivity card detected ESBL production with a sensitivity of 67.9%.

At a glance: this study using a mouse model shows that the administration of oral ß-lactamase preserved colonic flora of mice during parenteral ß-lactam antibiotic treatment.

At a glance: three antifungal agents were found to have a time-dependent decrease in activity against Aspergillus fumigatus.

At a glance: this German study finds that moxifloxacin is the most effective agent against the range of pathogens found in this surveillance of respiratory tract infections.

At a glance: risk factors for surgical site infection depend on whether surgery is laparoscopic or open and the duration of operation; BMI is also significant for colon surgery and age for gastric surgery.

At a glance: this study finds that thioridazine, when used in combination with oxacillin, reverses meticillin resistance in MRSA; this may be due to a reduced transcripTion of mecA.

At a glance: reducing the duration of urinary catheterisation to under four days significantly reduces the frequency of catheter-associated urinary tract infection.

At a glance: extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis can be cured in HIV-negative patients through supervised outpatient treatment, even where previous treatments have failed.

At a glance: quarterly cycling of linezolid and vancomycin in the ICU shows promise as a method to reduce infections with MRSA.

At a glance: does a rapid PCR method and universal screening reduce MRSA infections in surgical patients? Answer: no. There was no difference in nosocomial MRSA rates when universal screening by PCR was performed. Also, over half of the MRSA infections found in this study were MRSA free on admission.

At a glance: this study concludes that carers of children with fever should be advised initially to use ibuprofen, with the possible option of using paracetamol plus ibuprofen over 24 hours.

At a glance: this study shows there are differing clinical features and diagnostic results from the CSF between various viral aetiologies of viral meningitis.

At a glance: this study shows that 80% of all antibiotic adverse events are allergic reactions, of which the β-lactams cause half.

At a glance: in cases of catheter-related candidaemia when catheter removal is not feasible, the combination of ABLC + EDTA may be considered for antifungal catheter lock solution as part of a catheter salvage therapy.

At a glance:the empiric treatment of high risk ITU patients with fluconazole did not improve outcomes over placebo.

At a glance: the new interferon releasing assays, QuantiFERON and T SPOT.TB, are both very specific with T SPOT.TB being more sensitive than QuantiFERON.

At a glance: in this systematic review of severe infections in ITU, carbapenem therapy showed lower all cause mortality than antipseudomonal penicillins.

At a glance: a vaccine against ETEC delivered transcutaneously is protective against travellers’ diarrhoea.

At a glance: this phase III trial shows that in VAP doripenem, a new carbapenem, is as efficacious as imipenem in the treatment of VAP.

At a glance: 1.5% of patients who received surgical prophylaxis as their sole antibiotic treatment developed C. difficile infection.

At a glance: the administration of cranberry capsules reduces the adherence of E. coli to uroepithelial cells.

At a glance: this paper describes the genetic response of human leucocytes to both Gram-negative and -positive sepsis in critically ill patients and shows that genetically the human response is the same.