Essentials in Clinical Microbiology -- Glossary of Terms and Definitions -- Carriage -- Colonization and Infection -- Classification of Micro-Organisms According to Their Pathogenicity -- Classification of ICU Infections -- Gut Microbiology: Surveillance Samples for the Detection of the Abnormal Carrier State -- Antimicrobials -- Systemic Antibiotics -- Systemic Antifungals -- Enteral Antimicrobials -- Infection Control -- Evidence-Based Infection Control in the Intensive Care Unit -- Device Policies -- Antibiotic Policies in the Intensive Care Unit -- Outbreaks of Infection in Intensive Care Units—Usefulness of Molecular Techniques for Outbreak Analysis -- Prevention of Infection Using Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract -- Infections on ICU -- Lower Airway Infection -- Bloodstream Infections Including Endocarditis and Meningitis -- Infections of the Peritoneum Including Pancreas, Mediastinum, Pleura, Wounds, and Urinary Tract -- Infection on the Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units -- Immediate Adequate Antibiotics Control Morbidity and Mortality in Patients with Pancreatitis, Extensive Burns, Trauma, Exacerbated Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or Liver Transplantation -- Intensive Care Unit Patients Following Transplantation -- Clinical Virology in NICU, PICU and Adult ICU -- AIDS Patients in the Intensive Care Unit -- Therapy of Infection -- Special Topics -- SIRS, Sepsis, and MODS -- SIRS/Sepsis: Metabolic and Nutritional Changes and Treatment -- Gut Mucosal Protection in the Critically Ill Patient. Towards an Integrated Clinical Strategy -- Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract: the Role of the Pharmacist -- Antimicrobial Resistance: a Prospective 5-year Study -- ICU-Acquired Infection: Mortality, Morbidity, and Costs -- Evidence-Based Medicine in the Intensive Care Unit.Infection Control in the Intensive Care Unit has been entirely rewritten in this second edition. All statements are justified by the best available evidence, avoiding unsubstantiated expert opinion. The book contains a new section dedicated to the microbiology of the critically ill, specifically, how to process and interpret surveillance cultures to distinguish the ‘normal’ from the ‘abnormal’ carrier state. There are five totally new chapters dealing with evidence-based infection control molecular techniques for outbreak analysis; clinical virology in neonatal, paediatric and adult intensive care; the six basic principles of the therapy of an infection; and the role of the pharmacist in infection control. Attention is given to special topics such as nutrition, gut mucosal protection and the control of antimicrobial resistance. The addition of enteral to parenteral antimicrobials contributes to the control of multi-resistant micro-organisms. This completely revised second edition is a ‘must have’ for anyone requiring in depth knowledge in the ever expanding field of infection control.