What PLAB 2 infectious diseases stations cover

Infectious diseases PLAB 2 stations cover fever, travel-related illness and common infections. They test focused history-taking, red-flag screening for sepsis, and clear explanation of investigations and treatment.

Topics you can practise in these stations include:

  • Confusion after a urine infection
  • Lumps in the groin
  • Animal bite sustained abroad
  • Requesting standby antibiotics for travel
  • Fever in a returning traveller
  • Hepatitis B positive result
  • Recurrent cold sores
  • Severe sore throat and fatigue
  • Expanding bull's-eye rash after a country walk
  • Fever after travel
  • Diarrhoea after foreign travel

How to approach a infectious diseases station

Take a focused history including a travel, contact and risk history, screen for sepsis, and explain investigations and treatment clearly.

The underlying structure is the same as any PLAB 2 station: greet and confirm identity, explore the patient's ideas, concerns and expectations early, take a focused history, screen for the red flags below, explain your thinking in plain English, and agree a shared plan with clear safety-netting. See the free PLAB 2 preparation guide for the full study plan.

Red flags to screen for in infectious diseases stations

Examiners reward candidates who actively screen for what must not be missed. In infectious diseases stations, the key red flags include:

  • Sepsis: fever with low blood pressure, fast heart rate or confusion
  • Fever in someone returning from a malaria-endemic area
  • A non-blanching rash with fever (meningococcal disease)
  • Neutropenic sepsis in a patient on chemotherapy
  • A rapidly spreading soft-tissue infection

Skills these stations test

The 11 infectious diseases stations break down by skill type as:

  • History and management 5
  • Counselling 3
  • History red flags 2
  • History and risk assessment 1

All 11 free infectious diseases stations

Every station below is free. Click one to sit it as an eight-minute spoken consultation, then get your mark-scheme breakdown.

History and management 5

Counselling 3

History red flags 2

History and risk assessment 1

Practise other PLAB 2 specialties

Frequently asked questions

What PLAB 2 infectious diseases stations come up?

Plabity's 11 free PLAB 2 infectious diseases stations include presentations such as confusion after a urine infection, lumps in the groin, animal bite sustained abroad, requesting standby antibiotics for travel, fever in a returning traveller, hepatitis b positive result, recurrent cold sores, severe sore throat and fatigue, expanding bull's-eye rash after a country walk, fever after travel, diarrhoea after foreign travel. Each runs as an eight-minute spoken consultation marked to the PLAB rubric.

Are these PLAB 2 infectious diseases stations free?

Yes. All 11 are free to practise. You sign up with an email address, with no card required.

How are the stations marked?

Each station is marked across the three PLAB domains: data gathering, clinical management and interpersonal skills. You get a breakdown of every criterion with quoted evidence from your own consultation, in seconds.

See also: free PLAB 2 preparation · the complete PLAB 2 guide · all free stations

Practise infectious diseases stations free.

11 spoken infectious diseases cubicles, marked to the PLAB rubric. No card, no plan.

Start practising free