Runaway stars: their impact on the intestellar medium

Runaway, massive stars are not among the most numerous. However, the bow shocks built by their supersonic movement in the interstellar medium have been detected in the infrared range in many cases. Most recently, the stellar bow shocks have been proposed as particle acceleration sites, as radio data analysis at high angular resolution have shown. We present results of different manifestations of the stellar bowshock phenomenon, revealed from modern IR databases.