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Africa’s food requirements, along with its population, are growing fast. Three research programmes ask how a better understanding of viruses, parasites and the spread of disease can pave the way to improving agricultural yields.

Potential outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola and Lassa fever may be more accurately predicted thanks to a new mathematical model developed by researchers at the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge. This could in turn help inform public health messages to prevent outbreaks spreading more widely.

̽»¨Ö±²¥ ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge’s determination to enhance research capacity across Africa, and to engage in collaborative research with African partners, has been given a significant boost following the announcement of a major gift.

New diagnostic tests are needed to make vaccination against bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB) viable and the number of false positives from these tests must be below 15 out of every 10,000 cattle tested, according to research published today in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.

̽»¨Ö±²¥Chancellor of the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, has officially opened an exciting new £3 million development at Cambridge Veterinary School.

One in five cases of Lassa fever – a disease that kills around 5,000 people a year in West Africa – could be due to human-to-human transmission, with a large proportion of these cases caused by ‘super-spreaders’, according to research published today in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Ebola, as with many emerging infections, is likely to have arisen due to man’s interaction with wild animals – most likely the practice of hunting and eating wild meat known as ‘bushmeat’. A team of researchers led by the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has surveyed almost six hundred people across southern Ghana to find out what drives consumption of bat bushmeat – and how people perceive the risks associated with the practice.

A disease lethal to horses, until now confined to hot countries, could arrive in the UK. New research creates a picture of its possible spread and pinpoints the area that would be worse hit. 

̽»¨Ö±²¥ ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge's wide-ranging and long-term strategy of engagement with African higher education institutions moved into its next phase following the recent announcement of a $1.2 million grant by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and a $1 million grant by ̽»¨Ö±²¥Alborada Trust.

Veterinary research in Cambridge is spearheading a new generation of preventive methods to protect livestock from disease.