Infection Control Matters

ESCMID Global 2026: What Matters for Practice

In this episode, Brett and Martin reflect on the IPC components a major conference. Recorded after our visit to ESCMID Global 2026 held in Munich, Germany in April, this episode brings together key insights and conversations from across the first three days of the meeting. We reflect on emerging evidence, practical challenges, and the real-world implications for infection prevention and control, with a focus on what genuinely shifts practice rather than what simply looks good on paper. As always, the aim is to translate complex science into usable ideas for clinicians, infection preventionists, and anyone working to reduce harm from healthcare-associated infection. Sunsequent episodes will include discussions with presenters and the poster sessions will follow.In this episode we included sessions in which you might find these links interesting:
 
Albers B, et al. Examining tailoring as an implementation strategy for reducing healthcare-associated infections across European acute care hospitals (REVERSE): study protocol for a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial. Trials 2025;26(1):418. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-025-09132-x 
https://www.reverseproject.eu/
Kalisvar Marimuthu's Bluesky post on his toilet session (well worth a look):https://bsky.app/profile/kalisvar.bsky.social/post/3mjthohalq22e 
 

Why Healthcare Cleaning Is Different: Reflections from Interclean 2026

In this episode, recorded live from Interclean in Amsterdam, Brett and Martin highlight the contibution of Clean Hospitals to healthcare hygiene and reflect on the contrast between healthcare cleaning and the wider cleaning industry. While the scale, innovation, and investment in cleaning technology are impressive, much of it is not designed with healthcare realities in mind. We discuss why cleaning in hospitals is fundamentally different — shaped by interruptions, human behaviour, complex environments, and higher-risk pathogens.
Key links
www.cleanhospitals.com
Paper referred to:
Xie, A., C. Rock, Y.-J. Hsu, P. Osei, J. Andonian, V. Scheeler, S. C. Keller, S. E. Cosgrove and A. P. Gurses (2018). "Improving Daily Patient Room Cleaning: An Observational Study Using a Human Factors and Systems Engineering Approach." IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors 6(3-4): 178–191. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6760906/pdf/nihms-1041686.pdf 

Automated bloodstream infection surveillance - Measuring what matters?

How well do we really measure bloodstream infections and could it be routinely automated?
In this episode, Brett and Martin look at two papers on automated hospital-onset bacteraemia (HOB) surveillance, one a retrospective review in a single hospital in Berlin (Rüther et al) and a national UK study (Cregan, Oxford and UKHSA) exploring whether surveillance could move from local, manual processes to a fully automated national system, which was spectacularly accurate.
 
Ruther, F. D., M. Behnke, L. A. Pena Diaz, F. Schwab, C. Geffers and S. J. S. Aghdassi (2026). "Advancing hospital-onset bacteraemia surveillance: a five-year retrospective study following the hospital-wide implementation of an automated surveillance system at a German university hospital." Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 15(1). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13756-026-01708-9 
Cregan, J., O. Nsonwu, D. Chudasama, S. Hopkins, B. Muller-Pebody, R. Hope, C. Brown, D. W. Eyre, T. P. Quan and A. S. Walker (2026). "The potential of a centrally implemented system for national surveillance of bloodstream infections in England, compared to current local surveillance, 2023-2024." J Hosp Infect 169: 5–14. https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(25)00417-7/fulltext 

Surfaces - High touch or high risk?

In this episode, Martin and Brett talk about what is a high risk and what is a high touch surface. Are they the same? The discussion is based on the following paper:
 
Zheng et al (2025). “High-touch” surfaces are not always “high-risk” surfaces in ICU environment. Journal of hospital infection. 
https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(26)00079-4/fulltext

Do we feel that we are experts? Take two

Back in July 2022 when the world was opening up again Brett, Phil and Martin were all in Melbourne and met up for a chat. The topic was 'Are we experts', however due to incompetence (Martin) the recording was terrible and his rather poor editing skills (learnt entirely by watching YouTube videos from Mike Russell) didn't help much. Now however by using Adobe AI voice enhancement it has been possible to rescuscitate the recording, and we felt that it was worth a reissue.
 

Resourcing of hospital infection prevention and control programs

In this podcast, Phil and Brett speak with Dr Lyn-Li Lim from VICNISS (Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance System)in Australia. Dr Lim and colleagues recently explored the infection prevention and control resourcing levels in 113 facilities, including FTE per 100 beds. This podcast explores the differences in resourcing for different categories of hospitals.
 
A link to the publication is here. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019665532500570X 

Hospital or Crime Scene? What Forensic Science Reveals About “Clean”

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Sarah Fieldhouse, Associate Professor of Forensic Science and Dr Emmanuel Babafemi, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences both of the University of Staffordshire, UK. We discuss a recent paper looking at hospital cleanliness. Using forensic light, the study uncovered invisible contamination on surfaces that looked clean to the naked eye. We discuss what fluorescence reveals, what ATP misses, and how this approach could reshape environmental monitoring in healthcare.
The open access paper is available here:Fieldhouse S, Bastaki BB, Ledgerton A, Clarke P, Lewis T. Assessing the effectiveness of hospital cleaning using fluorescence: a proof-of-concept study and comparison with ATP testing. J Hosp Infect 2025;166:38-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2025.08.008. 
https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0195-6701%2825%2900267-1 

AMR at a National level - The 2025 ESPAUR Report

In this episode, Martin talks to Dr Diane Ashiru-Oredope and colleagues at the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) about the 2025 ESPAUR report, focusing on what the latest data mean for clinicians, infection prevention teams, and health system leaders. We explore what the latest data reveal about antimicrobial resistance and prescribing trends in England, including changes in resistance patterns among major bacterial pathogens and what this means for patient safety and clinical outcomes.
We discuss what’s improving, where challenges remain, and how infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship teams can use national surveillance data to drive meaningful local action.
You can download the report in it's entirety here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6936ac34b612700b2cb73607/ESPAUR-report-2024-to-2025.pdf
There is also a supplement and summary in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy which can be accessed here:https://academic.oup.com/jacamr/issue/8/Supplement_2
The TARGET antibiotics toolkit hub is abailable here:https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=553
e-Bug is available here: https://www.e-bug.eu/ 

2025 Christmas Special

This is our traditional end of year Christmas special. In this episode we consider highlights from year and have a bit of fun - including a stakeout in London.
We talk about our views on the most significant systematic review, our favourite presentation/poster, RCTs would like to see and predictions for 2026.

Unseen Reservoirs, Unseen Risks: Integrating Wastewater Surveillance with Patient-Level Insights into C. auris Spread

In this episode, Martin talks to Dr Jon Otter, Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, UK. We examine two complementary pieces of work that provide further insight into Candidozyma auris transmission in acute hospitals. The first demonstrates, for the first time in the UK, that ward-level wastewater reliably mirrors patient colonisation and can reveal genetically related outbreak strains using culture and PCR. The second, a case–control study, identifies clinical and environmental risk factors that shape colonisation, highlighting the significance of shared patient equipment.
The paper can be found here: Davidson HC, Griffin AE, Symes L, Laing KG, Witney AA, Gould K, et al. Detection of Candidozyma (formerly Candida) auris from ward wastewater during an outbreak using culture and molecular methods. J Hosp Infect 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2025.10.024 
A copy of the poster can be downloaded here