Travellers who have persistent diarrhoea on returning from exotic places don't always carry infection. A case report in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology (2005;40: 112-4) describes a 40 year old woman who returned from East Timor with what she was convinced was an unidentified bug. In fact she gave a classic history for a small bowel malabsorption syndrome and responded rapidly and dramatically to a gluten free diet. Infectious organisms may start malabsorption processes, but anti-infectious agents do little to stop them.

Ever wanted to know what to do with that old packet of unused condoms you found hidden away in your father's belongings? The soon to be opened Museum of Contraception in Vienna (www.contraceptive-museum.org/) could well be interested in hearing from you. They've put out a call for historical devices, instruments, films, posters, leaflets, documents, and books on the subject of contraception before these get thrown away or lost forever.

Arthritic hips, hands, and backs tend to run in families but, strangely enough, arthritic knees do not. A Dutch study of middle aged sibling pairs with osteoarthritis reported in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2005;64: 438-43) found that the risk of having arthritis at the same site among siblings was striking for spine and hips, but almost absent …