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Communicable: Daily Summaries Delivered
by CMI Communications
Communicable takes on hot topics in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology. Hosted by the editors of CMI Communications, the open-access journal of ESCMID, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.
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- 6 days ago50 min
Communicable E66: Diagnostics in the AMR era
Ahead of World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW), Communicable presents a special episode exploring the role of diagnostics within the space of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Hosts Thomas Tängdén and Annie Joseph are joined by experts Betsy Wonderly Trainor of CARB-X (USA) and Marc Mendelson of Groote Schuur Hospital (South Africa) to discuss how diagnostics can help address the AMR crisis by guiding targeted treatment and reducing unnecessary antibiotic use. They explore the limitations of current diagnostic tools, the challenges of implementing them across different healthcare settings, and the need for incentives to encourage investment in diagnostic innovation. Further reading:Gigante V, et al. Diagnostics for priority bacterial pathogens: global gaps and research needs for curbing antimicrobial resistance in low-resource settings. Lancet Microbe 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.lanmic.2026.101385Miller M, et al. Clinical Utility of Advanced Microbiology Testing Tools. J Clin Microbiol 2019. DOI: 10.1128/jcm.00459-19
- 2 weeks ago49 min
Communicable E65: Quarterly catch-up (October 2026 edition)
In this episode of Communicable, Emily McDonald returns for another ‘Quarterly catch-up’ and is joined by Angela Huttner as co-host. Together, they review four recent randomised clinical trials, focusing on antibiotic treatment duration and different treatment approaches across a range of infections and patient populations [1–4]. They discuss the results and weigh in on their implications for clinical practice.ReferencesJohnson, et al. Vancomycin Taper and Pulse or Fidaxomicin for Recurrent C. difficile Infection. NEJM Evid. DOI: 10.1056/EVIDoa2600016Bundgaard, et al. Response-Tailored or Standard-Duration Antibiotic Treatment for Infective Endocarditis (POET II). NEJM. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2607887 Bielicki, et al. Oral step-down, optimal drug, and total duration of antibiotic treatment in African children hospitalised with severe community-acquired pneumonia (PediCAP): a factorial randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00879-2Carlsen, et al. Individualized Duration of Antibiotic Treatment in Culture-Negative Early-Onset Sepsis in Late Preterm and Term-Born Neonates in Denmark: A Multicenter, Open-Label, Randomised, Controlled Non-Inferiority Trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(26)00118-5
- Oct 4, 202650 min
Communicable E64: Getting micro on macrolides for community-acquired pneumonia
In this episode of Communicable, hosts Emily McDonald and Marc Bonten are joined by Sylvain Lother and Valentijn Schweitzer for a discussion on the use of macrolides in community-acquired pneumonia. Together, they examine the evidence for adding a macrolide to beta-lactam therapy, which patients may benefit from combination treatment, and how available evidence can inform clinical practice.Resources: AMMI Canada, https://ammi.ca/en/home/Further readingPostma DF, et al. Antibiotic Treatment Strategies for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Adults (CAP-START). NEJM 2015. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1406330 Qian ET, et al. Cefepime vs Piperacillin-Tazobactam in Adults Hospitalized With Acute Infection: the ACORN Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 2023. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.20583 Schweitzer VA, et al. Narrow-spectrum antibiotics for community-acquired pneumonia in Dutch adults (CAP-PACT): a cross-sectional, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised, non-inferiority, antimicrobial stewardship intervention trial. Lancet Infect Dis 2022. DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00255-3van Daalen FV, et al. Management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults: Practice Guideline from The Dutch Working Party on Antibiotic Policy and Dutch Association of Chest Physicians. CMI Comms 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmicom.2026.105206
- Sep 20, 20261h 3m
Communicable E63: Does oseltamivir harm critically ill patients? The REMAP-CAP results
At the Critical Care Reviews meeting in Belfast in June this year, REMAP-CAP investigators presented results suggesting that oseltamivir may be harmful in critically ill patients with influenza, upending a long-standing clinical practice in intensive care [1]. In this fourth collaboration between SIDP’s Breakpoints and ESCMID’s Communicable podcasts, hosts Erin McCreary and Josh Davis are joined by Steve Webb (Monash University), senior REMAP-CAP investigator and 'godfather of adaptive trial design', and Steve Tong (University of Melbourne), esteemed clinical trialist and friend of both podcasts. Together, they walk through the trial domain’s design, outcomes and results, also highlighting how these findings demonstrate the importance and clinical impact of randomised clinical trials.At the time of this episode recording in August, the results discussed were available as a preprint version [1]. ResourcesREMAP-CAP: A Randomised, Embedded, Multi-factorial, Adaptive Platform Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia, https://www.remapcap.org/ ReferencesMurthy S, et al. Oseltamivir for Critically Ill Patients with Influenza: A Randomised Trial. Lancet 2026. Preprint http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7172531
- Sep 6, 202652 min
Communicable E62: The 'prose' and cons of the POET trial – early oral antibiotic switch for endocarditis
In this episode of Communicable, Emily McDonald and Josh Davis host Henning Bundgaard and Sami El-Dalati for a discussion on early oral antibiotic switch for endocarditis, focusing on the POET trial, led by Bundgaard, and its clinical impact seven years after the results were first published in 2019 [1]. The episode also covers the ‘prose’ and cons of early oral switch therapy, as well as broader challenges of implementing new evidence in practice when it goes against long-standing dogma.ReferencesIversen K, et al. Partial Oral versus Intravenous Antibiotic Treatment of Endocarditis, NEJM 2018. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1808312Further reading:Pries-Heje MM, et al. Five-Year Outcomes of the Partial Oral Treatment of Endocarditis (POET) Trial, NEJM 2022. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2114046El-Dalati S, et al. Partial Oral Versus Intravenous Antibiotic Therapy for Endocarditis With Management by a Multidisciplinary Team: A Retrospective Cohort Study, OFID 2025. DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf625McDonald EM, et al. Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Infective Endocarditis in Adults: A WikiGuidelines Group Consensus Statement, JAMA Netw Open 2023. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.26366European Society of Cardiology (ESC). 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of endocarditis, 2023.
- Aug 23, 202652 min
Communicable E61: We will make you love PK/PD, part 3
In this episode of Communicable, Amy Legg (Brisbane, Australia), Rekha Pai Mangalore (Melbourne, Australia) & Angela Huttner (Geneva, Switzerland) return for the third part of the ‘We will make you love PK/PD’ series. The hosts are joined by two experts, Amanda Gwee (Melbourne, Australia) & Sebastian Wicha (Hamburg, Germany), to dive into an important application of PK/PD: model-informed precision dosing (MIPD), and how it allows for more informed, individualised dosing decisions. The episode also covers the open-access educational tools, KidsCalc and TDMx, developed by Gwee and Wicha respectively, and the steps clinicians can take to put MIPD into practice, keeping the individual patient at the centre of dosing decisions.Resources TDMx, https://www.tdmx.eu/KidsCalc, https://www.kidscalc.org/Further readingBroeker A, et al. Towards precision dosing of vancomycin: a systematic evaluation of pharmacometric models for Bayesian forecasting. CMI 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2019.02.029Brusamarello C, et al. How important are MIC determination methods when targeting vancomycin levels in patients with Staphylococcus aureus infections? J Antimicrob Chemother 2021. DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkab065De Cock PA, et al. Bedside model-informed precision dosing of vancomycin in severely ill neonates and children in Belgium (the BENEFICIAL trial): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(25)00385-2 Gwee A, et al. Identifying a therapeutic target for vancomycin against staphylococci in young infants. J Antimicrob Chemother 2022. DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkab469Haiping X, et al. Model-informed precision dosing of vancomycin in children 3 months to 18 years of age using Australia-wide data. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2026. DOI: 10.1128/aac.01840-25 Harwood K, et al. Refining Absolute GFR Estimation in Children: Development and Validation of the GROW-GFR Equation. Front Pharmacol 2026. Minichmayr IK, et al. Model-informed precision dosing: State of the art and future perspectives. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2024.115421Starp J, et al. Towards model-informed precision dosing of intravenous linezolid: a multicentre external evaluation of pharmacokinetic models in critically ill adults. CMI 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2025.08.032Wilkins AL, et al. Individualized vancomycin dosing in infants: prospective evaluation of an online dose calculator. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2023.106728 US National Kidney Foundation for different equations for kidney function estimates as related to drug dosing – estimating kidney function for medication related decisions: Frequently Asked Questions | National Kidney Foundation
- Aug 9, 202649 min
Communicable E60: Quarterly catch-up (August 2026 edition)
In the second edition of 'Quarterly catch-up', CMI Communications editors Emily McDonald and Erin McCreary round-up the biggest news in infectious diseases and review clinical microbiology and infectious diseases studies published in the second quarter of 2026 [1-4]. From Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in solid-organ-transplant recipients to a double-blind randomised controlled trial reporting a new antibiotic for complicated urinary tract infections, Erin and Emily highlight four articles they found particularly noteworthy, and comment on whether the results can and should change clinical practice. ReferencesAlanio A, et al. Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in solid organ transplant recipients: a prospective observational cohort study, J Infect 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2026.106794Ramendra R, et al. Procalcitonin to guide 7 versus 14 days of antibiotics in bloodstream infections: a secondary analysis of the BALANCE trial, JAMA Netw Open 2026. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.20973Pai MP, et al. Challenging weight-tiered antibiotic prophylaxis in obese patients undergoing colorectal surgery using CT-derived body composition, CID 2026. DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciag383 Takahashi S, et al. Efficacy and safety of cefepime–nacubactam and aztreonam–nacubactam compared with imipenem–cilastatin for complicated urinary tract infection or acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis (Integral-1): a double-blind, randomised phase 3 trial. Lancet 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00596-9 Further readingThe SNAP Trial Group. Cefazolin for Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia. NEJM 2026. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2506905The SNAP Trial Group. Benzylpenicillin versus flucloxacillin or cloxacillin for the treatment of penicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SNAP): an international, multicentre, open-label, non-inferiority randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00761-0McCreary EK, et al. Communicable episode 26: SNAP out of it – rethinking anti-staphylococcal penicillins for S. aureus bacteremia, the SNAP trial PSSA/MSSA results. Communicable Podcast 2025. https://share.transistor.fm/s/2a3c3bb4 Ilges D, et al. Anticalcitonin: limited utility of a context-dependent biomarker demonstrated in another real-world data set, CID 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciag396 Spellberg B. Procalcitonin–An enigmatic anxiolytic biomarker, JAMA Netw Open 2026. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.20978
- Jul 26, 20261h 9m
Communicable E59: 'Ask me anything' – EUCAST and CLSI leadership explain
In this episode of Communicable, Nav Narayanan and Thomas Tängdén kick off the first 'Ask me anything' episode, inviting EUCAST and CLSI leadership Sören Gatermann, Christian Giske and Amy Mathers to answer questions from our listeners. Together, they discuss the roles and operations of both organisations, similarities and differences between EUCAST and CLSI, how breakpoints and guidance documents are developed, set the record straight about the 'I' category, explain which data inform breakpoint decisions, and much more.This episode was edited by Communicable's executive producer, Angela Huttner. Further readingDocuments/resources:CLSI MicroFree, https://em100.edaptivedocs.net/Login.aspx?ru=1EUCAST: When there are no antifungal breakpointsEUCAST: When there are no breakpoints?Use_of_fosfomycin_iv_breakpoints_General_advice_20240528.pdfEUCAST: Definition of S, I and REUCAST Guidance Document, “When there are no breakpoints”, https://www.eucast.org/bacteria/guidance-documents/EUCAST Guidance Document for “Rare Yeasts”, https://www.eucast.org/fungi-afst/guidance-documents/Articles (alphabetical): Bixby ML, et al. Fosfomycin Disk Diffusion Testing among Klebsiella pneumoniae Results in Frequent Inner Colonies and Categorical Disagreement Based on Conflicting Breakpoint Organization Recommendations. Microbiol Spectr 2023. DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.03363-22DeMarco MG, et al. Impact of media brand on cefiderocol disk diffusion results. J Clin Microbiol 2025. DOI: 10.1128/jcm.01648-24</li
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Communicable takes on hot topics in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology. Hosted by the editors of CMI Communications, the open-access journal of ESCMID, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.
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