NEJM 28 Dec 2006

Your Christmas Day came to a blurry end with quantities of port wine and Stilton cheese. You don’t really remember going to bed, but soon afterwards you are aware that you have become a junior doctor working in an intensive care unit, trying to put in a central line. A sharp American voice from behind you snaps, “Doctor, your patient appears to be septicaemic. Are you aware that 20,000 US citizens die every year from catheter-related bloodstream infections?