Well that's a wrap for #escmidglobal2026 in Munich
The annual ID /Microbiology "mega conference" has been a roaring success once again.
See you all next time in Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪 for #escmidglobal2027!!
The single most important thing in a scientific presentation is clarity.
A good presentation is a clear presentation.
Poster presented on a screen with a speaker
Jazmin Díaz-Regañón presenting interesting post-hoc analysis of Phase 3b trial of gepotidacin - looked at baseline rUTI, older age & more severe baseline symptoms. Endpoints included CSI/CSR. Concluded this antibiotic could work in harder-to-treat #UTI subgroups. #ESCMIDGlobal2026 #UTISky
#ESCMIDGlobal2026 has been fabulous -- it's been such a treat to meet authors, students, friends etc. Thank you so much for all the lovely and constructive feedback about the journal and Lancet in general. My favourite probably was "it was great when you rejected me, the comments were so helpful" 😉
A slide showing a brain, a mouse and some bacteria explaining the STAMP technique
OMG - STAMP, what a technique! Would love to try this. Bacteria with 200 different barcodes so you can track infection dynamics through a tissue. Here, Kieran Toms using it to track intracerebral Listeria clonality and spread 👏
#ESCMIDGlobal2026
Normal urine is not sterile!
Urine microbiome being introduced by @nicoledenisco.bsky.social
#ESCMIDGlobal2026 #UTISky
It's not only Cefiderocol
Increasing observation of Aztreonam-Avibactam resistance, especially in China
We are losing these drugs before most people even have access to them...😩
#EscmidGlobal2026
Shionogi in the process of addressing this by combining Cefiderocol with xeruborbactam
Sobering talk from Timothy Walsh from Oxford, UK on the rising antibacterial resistance even to the NOVEL agents
For example we are already seeing growing reports of Cefiderocol resistance - and we have barely started using it.
As usual we are being outrun by the bacteria
#EscmidGlobal2026
URINE IS NOT A STERILE SITE
BACTERIA DOES NOT EQUAL INFECTION
The old chestnut of Tazocin or Meropenem for ESBL bacteraemia
The PeterPen study interim results have thrown the cat amongst the pigeons
@angelahuttner.bsky.social did a great job analysing it and comparing to MERINO
Bottom line -this debate ain't going away any time soon
#escmidglobal2026
📊 Looking at Bluesky and X, the science community is still stronger on X from what I’m seeing with #ESCMIDglobal2026 content
cc: @absteward.bsky.social @krutikamh.bsky.social @drneilstone.bsky.social
LinkedIn gaining ground but I still can't quite work out how to use it
Sadly the level of engagement on BlueSky is very very low and only getting worse
Tremendous day at #escmidglobal2026
Interim results of the PeterPen trial by Mical Paul
Year in ID - A superb overview from Dafna Yahav
Not to be missed if you can catch them online
Key take-home at #ESCMIDGlobal2026:
🧬 Partial cross-reactive immunity to H5 exists
💉 Likely from prior seasonal influenza exposure
⚠️ May not prevent infection—but could blunt severity
👉 Population not fully naïve to H5N1 👀
Next up at #ESCMIDGlobal2026
🧬 Whole genome sequencing–guided precision medicine for rifampicin-resistant TB (SMARTT trial)
🎯 Goal: tailor therapy → shorten treatment
A major step toward individualized TB care 👀
SMARTT trial design at #ESCMIDGlobal2026:
🧬 WGS-guided therapy → individualized regimens
⏱️ Goal: shorten RR-TB treatment (~6 months vs standard longer courses)
🌍 Pragmatic, real-world setting in South Africa
Precision medicine moving TB care from standardized → tailored 👀
The last paper in this session at #ESCMIDGlobal2026
💊 Adjunctive steroids in Mycoplasma pneumoniae CAP
🫁 Target: hypoxemic hospitalized adults
📊 RCT evidence now emerging
❓ Key question: do steroids improve outcomes—or risk harm?
David Paterson at #ESCMIDGlobal2026 Highlights important issue of generic versus brand name meropenem – previous work has suggested chemical differences, harder to dissolve and even higher mortality with generic preparations
Highlights from late-breaking @TheLancet at #ESCMIDGlobal2026 📊
🔹 WGS + AI for RR-TB → better outcomes
🔹 UTI → nitrofurantoin best; fosfomycin worst
🔹 H5 immunity → partial cross-protection
🔹 M. pneumoniae CAP → steroids speed recovery
🚀 Precision + smarter antimicrobial use are shaping ID
🔥Late Breakers
PeterPen RCT prelim results challenges carbapenem default in ESBL BSI
Pip/tazo vs MER (EI)
✅Non-inferior 7d failure(29.4% vs 33.5%)
❌No early mortality signal
30d mortality 14.4%(interim)
👉Will mortality follow?MERINO taught us the hard way!
#ESCMIDGlobal2026 #IDsky
▶️💥When the fairy dust settles: critical appraisal of presented trials
Excellent talk by Prof.HUTTNER @angelahuttner.bsky.social
How did PeterPen replicate the MERINO trial?
Co-intervention bias?
Are you going forward to 1000 patients for 30d mortality?
Did you get FUBC?
🌟7d? #ESCMIDGlobal2026
Back on home territory for me..fungal disease
Then future of biomarkers for invasive fungal infection...we've been focusing on the pathogen..time to focus on host biomarkers
Beautifully presented by Laura Alcazar Fuol 🇪🇸
#escmidglobal2026
Dr Neil Stone talking at a podium showing slides
Listening to @drneilstone.bsky.social talk about Twitter vs Bluesky in Arena 3:
Says don’t concede space in Twitter to anti-science influencers
#ESCMIDGlobal2026
#IDSky #clinmicro
Smiling selfie 1
Smiling selfie 2
Despite its worldwide prevalence, research about #UTI is sparse here at #ESCMIDGlobal2026. But managed to find a concentrated mini-population of researchers at the poster session niche—enriched for the London strain, but quite a small sample size, p values not reaching significance! #UTISky #IDSky
From Carl Sagan via @neilstone.bsky.social
“When we are unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we will side, almost without noticing, back into superstition
and darkness.”
#ESCMIDGlobal2026
#IDSky #clinmicro
ESCMID is shaping the future of #infectiousdiseases care through evidence-based guidelines that strengthen diagnosis and treatment.
The open call for guideline projects is now live!
Join the open meeting at #ESCMIDGlobal2026 in 1 hour, and get involved in what comes next.
Phase II trial of giving probiotics in allogeneic stem cell transplants to reduce infectious complications
Well tolerated but unfortunately didn't show any benefit
#escmidglobal2026
Screening patients for colonisation of drug resistant organisms can help reduce carbapenem use and duration of antibiotics in febrile neutropenia
#escmidglobal2026