In the last decade the field of bacterial whole genome sequencing (WGS) has rapidly advanced: It is now possible to sequence and extract actionable information from hundreds of bacterial isolates at high speed and low cost. As a consequence, there is increasing interest in using these techniques in clinical and public health microbiology labs where they are transforming routine surveillance activities and directly informing infection control. Here I will; 1) give a brief overview and examples of how bacterial WGS can be used in these settings, focussing on control of multi-drug resistant hospital ‘superbugs’; and 2) describe our recent work generating knowledge and tools for genomic surveillance of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a notorious superbug that tops the WHO’s list of high priority drug-resistant pathogens.

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