Another outbreak of trichinosis in France has been linked to horse meat imported from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Eurosurveillance1999;4:13-4). Eleven cases were reported initially, but communicable disease investigators identified another 395cases in two districts of the Midi-Pyrenees region. They traced the source of the infection through butchers to a single horse carcass from Yugoslavia. Imported horse meat has caused eight outbreaks in France since 1976,and the authorities will no doubt be taking a critical look at their infection control measures.

In 1995a French orthopaedic surgeon found that he was infected with HIV and attributed the infection to an operating accident 12years earlier. Annals of Internal Medicinereports this month that he almost certainly passed the infection on to an elderly woman during surgery (1999;130: 1-6). She was born in 1925,had no risk factors for HIV, and seroconverted after a long and difficult operation. Sad though this is, it is still reassuring that health workers have infected patients in only two incidents throughout a global epidemic that has lasted 20years and infected millions of people.

We already know that in adults septic shock can lead to adrenal insufficiency, and a recent study suggests that the same is true for children …