🦠 Our new study in the UK SIREN cohort over winter 2023/24: SARS-CoV-2 (21.8%), flu (5.3%) & RSV (7.3%) were common among healthcare workers - each linked to considerable staff absence (35.8% in total), with a combined 10,168 days of sick leave taken. 🔗 journalofinfection.com/article/S016...

Thrilled to be at my alma mater @LSHTM for the launch of the WHO/BMJ Global Health Community Hand Hygiene Guidelines—and to join the keynote panel. Sobering stats—1.7B still lack access to soap & water! Available here tinyurl.com/49333mmb 🧼🌍 #HandHygiene #PublicHealth #WHO

🚨The largest-ever regional training on molecular AMR detection just wrapped up in Trinidad, hosted by CARPHA, with support from UKHSA, PAHO, and the Fleming Fund. Proud that my team contributed to this milestone, supporting regional efforts to build lab capacity. 🔗https://tinyurl.com/ysd2xztd

📢 New research from Oxford AMR/HCAI HPRU: We applied an EHR-wide association study to uncover risk factors for E. coli bloodstream infections over 6 years 🧠 Frailty-related factors (renal/UTI, cancer, GI) drive risk 🛠️ Highlights need for multifaceted prevention strategies doi.org/10.1016/j.ji...

The best thing about global ‘one health’ events that are held in the zoo, is that at the end of the day you get to go to the zoo….

Delighted to have played an incredibly modest role in commenting on (and hopefully in some small way shaping) the draft pandemic agreement - this will be a great tool for global cooperation, preparedness plans, and equity in response and access for diagnostics/therapeutics for the challenges ahead.

Delighted to help launch our Caribbean Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance (CARA) in Barbados - a joint initiative between the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the UK Health Security Agency Health (UKHSA), supported by the UK’s Fleming Fund - with joint working with PAHO t.co/fACtT6sf5h

Over the weekend I said to my 4 year old son 'let's race' - and he held my hand and said 'let's win together'. Need to bring more of that spirit to work and life....

Had a wonderful chat with @emrsa15.bsky.social, Andy Borman, and Mariyam Mirfenderesky on the @icmatters.bsky.social podcast about C. auris control - could have chatted for hours about this difficult bug and the present and future challenges it presents infectioncontrolmatters.com/2025/04/30/c...

Pope Francis was a true servant leader, a most decent man, inclusive and humble, and forthright about social justice. A great loss indeed.

A very happy Easter to all who celebrate - many things as I get older and (somewhat) wiser continue to amaze me. That Peeps (truly an abomination) are ‘artificially flavoured’ is not one of these things…

Very useful @onisillos.bsky.social - as a reviewer also

There are many ways that my homeland of Northern Ireland produces talent and influence beyond its diminutive size, very well done to Rory

Our review of novel antimicrobial surveillance for the novel drug subscription model pilot - ceftazidime/avibactam use and susceptibility testing increased in the lead up to the pilot, as did (low) levels of resistance, and in the context of treatment www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

Now this is research that really matters. www.theguardian.com/food/2025/ap...

We just published a study identifying the role/needs of teachers/schools in infection prevention and control post COVID-19, highlighting their pivotal place in preventing communicable disease, and further training needed to support the educational workforce. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very useful summary of public health infectious disease threats seen in England since the COVID-19 pandemic, including work highlighting the economic benefits of health protection interventions and in identifying health inequalities across infections assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e281...

Delighted to have appeared on this excellent www.digitalamr.org / The Naked Scientists podcast on current and future AMR challenges - if you are interested, we have an entire lecture series available on YouTube at youtube.com/@digitalheal...

Delighted to announce the updated national Candidozyma auris (Candida auris) guidance (for healthcare settings in England) is now available: gov.uk/government/p... A summary of recommendations provides a concise overview of the guidance to support adoption and implementation across acute healthcare

For everyone who is Irish or holds Ireland dear to them - lá fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh

Some incredible talks here today - fungal infections affected by conflict, planetary changes (increasing temperature and natural disasters), and HIV care; neglected tropical infections; integration with pandemic preparedness; and horizon scanning for novel therapeutics and diagnostics. #mycology2025

What a wonderful venue to have a conference dinner at - and to see some old pals @drneilstone.bsky.social @neleshg.bsky.social - looking forward to some exciting fungal resistance talks tomorrow at #FungalUpdate2025

We just published analysis that in England ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation are associated with a higher risk of acquiring blood-stream infections caused by E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and MSSA/MRSA - now we must redress that imbalance www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

We just published our national point prevalence survey on healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs), antimicrobial use (AMU) and antimicrobial stewardship in England, 2023 Overall HCAIs were present in 7.6% of patients, a 1% increase since 2016, with AMU static at 37.3% www.gov.uk/government/n...

This is another excellent output from our @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social HPRU - highlighting how blending academic expertise with national public heath responses brings immense benefit. Please see @aliciad3.medsky.social’s past posts to see the wealth of output on the S. capitis response alone.

Undiagnosed HIV, particularly among groups that do not test often, remains a considerable issue - normalising testing is a great way to increase awareness and acceptance

Latest publication from our SIREN group, highlighting differential risk to HCWs over the pandemic waves - occupational risk factors key in the second wave, during national social restrictions; after their lifting, household/community factors more significant: linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii...

This board in my hospital’s lobby - which highlights the first female Dean of our medical school (which was the first in Britain to train women as doctors), and the first woman qualified in medicine in the UK who practiced at our hospital - also shows just how long we have been underpaying nurses

Excellent summary from @aliciad3.bsky.social highlighting our response to Staphylococcus capitis infection in neonatal units across England - detailing the epidemiological, genomic, clinical, and environmental investigations and guidance - likely more of these increases requiring investigation ahead

100% this - there is no health reason whatsoever to risk exposure to pathogenic microbes compared to the health benefits of pasteurisation

I didn't know this was happening - what superb news

There is lots of activity going on here to unpick reasons for the increases being seen country-wide, please join us to learn more

Our newly updated BMJ Learning course 'Introduction to mpox" just published: new-learning.bmj.com/course/10066... Also good time to plug our recently updated BMJ course on "Introduction to testing for COVID-19": learning.bmj.com/learning/mod... Both 4.7/5 stars & with 100s of happy customers

academic.oup.com/jac/advance-... Just published the first case of penicillin-resistant group B Streptococcus isolated from a patient in the UK - though of note this was from 2016 and we have not seen any further penicillin resistance since - however a salient reminder that #AMR is ever a possibility

Delighted to chair two great sessions at #FIS2024 on national outbreak response and lessons for future pandemics - FIS is a super conference for practical updates for the jobbing ID/Micro/IPC practitioner; excellent organisation by Healthcare Infection Society, and what a fantastic city Liverpool is

For #WAAW2024 I would like to highlight a free 20 lecture series our UCL AMR Digital Data Hub has created - available at digitalamr.org/lecture-series - Part A covers The AMR Challenge, and Part B Emerging digital health technologies for AMR - a great starter for digital health trends in AMR

With enormous thanks to @dianeashiru.bsky.social ‘s tireless work, and that of so many members of my team and beyond, I am delighted to present this year’s ESPAUR (English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation & Resistance) report highlighting the state of the nation’s AMR story