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Dr Richard McKay traces the history of the 'patient zero' idea through epidemics such as HIV and typhoid, and the return of this trope with COVID-19.

Over the past 70 years richer nations have gradually lost their sense of danger concerning epidemics and serious infections, writes Professor Gordon Dougan. We must now reacquire this instinctive memory.

Half of Ebola outbreaks have gone undetected since the virus was discovered in 1976, scientists at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge estimate. ̽��ֱ��new findings come amid rising concern about Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and highlight the need for improved detection and rapid response to avoid future epidemics.

An innovative new study takes a network theory approach to targeted treatment in rural Africa, and finds that a simple algorithm may be more effective than current policies, as well as easier to deploy, when it comes to preventing disease spread – by finding those with “most connections to sick people”.  

New research shows the sudden oak death epidemic in California cannot now be stopped, but that its tremendous ecological and economic impacts could have been greatly reduced if control had been started earlier. ̽��ֱ��research also identifies new strategies to enhance control of future epidemics, including identifying where and how to fell trees, as “there will be a next time”.

Major epidemics such as the recent Ebola outbreak or the emerging Zika epidemic may be difficult to forecast because of our inability to determine whether individuals are uninfected or infected but not showing symptoms, according to a new study from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��finding emphasises the need to develop and deploy reliable diagnostic tests to detect infected individuals whether or not they are showing symptoms, say the researchers.

Almost one in four of the world’s cases of tuberculosis (TB) are in India and the disease is constantly adapting itself to outwit our medicines. Could the answer lie in targeting not the bacteria but its host, the patient?