Highlights from ESCMID 2026: Key Papers in Infection Control

About this episode

Brett and Martin discuss key papers in infection control from ESCMID 2026 with Dr. Nico Tom Mutters.

In this episode, Brett and Martin talked to Dr Nico Tom Mutters about the papers he selected in the always popular 'Year in Infection Control' session at ESCMID Global 2026. Nico is Director of the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at Bonn University Hospital and also Chair of EUCIC (European Committee on Infection Control). It is always fascinating to see which papers are selected in these sessions and we discussed a few papers that he selected from the preceding 12 months, a list of which follow. SuDDICU Investigators for the Australia New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group and the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group. Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract during Ventilation in the ICU. N Engl J Med 2026;394(15):1491–502. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2506398 Hammond NE. et al. Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract in Adult Mechanically Ventilated Patients - An Updated Systematic Review with Bayesian Meta-Analysis. NEJM Evid 2026;5(5):EVIDoa2500264. https://doi.org/10.1056/EVIDoa2500264 Arreba P. et al. Gel nail polish does not have a negative impact on the nail bacterial burden nor on the quality of hand hygiene with an…

People in this episode

Host: Brett Mitchell

Guest: Dr Nico Tom Mutters

Topics covered

• infection control
• ESCMID 2026
• medical research
• critical care
• antimicrobial resistance

Keywords

• infection control
• ESCMID
• critical care
• antimicrobial resistance
• medical research

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Institute for Hygiene and Public Health, Bonn University Hospital, EUCIC, Australia New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group, Canadian Critical Care Trials Group

Books & works: Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract during Ventilation in the ICU, Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract in Adult Mechanically Ventilated Patients - An Updated Systematic Review with Bayesian Meta-Analysis, Gel nail polish does not have a negative impact on the nail bacterial burden nor on the quality of hand hygiene with an alcohol-based hand rub, Effects of microplastic concentration, composition, and size on Escherichia coli biofilm-associated antimicrobial resistance

More episodes of Infection Control Matters

• ESCMID Global 2026 – Selected Gems from the Poster Hall (Part 1) · June 5, 2026 · 17 min
• ESCMID Global 2026: What Matters for Practice · May 6, 2026 · 28 min
• Why Healthcare Cleaning Is Different: Reflections from Interclean 2026 · April 16, 2026 · 13 min
• Automated bloodstream infection surveillance - Measuring what matters? · April 1, 2026 · 16 min
• Surfaces - High touch or high risk? · March 18, 2026 · 14 min
• Do we feel that we are experts? Take two · February 25, 2026 · 19 min