Infectious diseases

Topic description and stories

Combating infectious diseases and the threat of antimicrobial resistance remains one of the greatest global challenges.

FAMIN or feast? Newly-discovered mechanism influences how immune cells ‘eat’ invading bacteria

01 Aug 2016

A new mechanism that affects how our immune cells perform – and hence their ability to prevent disease – has been discovered by an international team...

2,000-year-old personal hygiene sticks with remains of cloth, excavated from the latrine at Xuanquanzhi

Opinion: How we discovered infectious diseases in 2,000-year-old faeces from the Silk Road

21 Jul 2016

Piers Mitchell (Department of Biological Anthropology) discusses what we can learn from rummaging around in 2,000-year-old toilets.

Messaggi lungo le strade della Sierra Leone

Sexual transmission involved in tail-end of Ebola epidemic

18 May 2016

Some of the final cases of Ebola in Sierra Leone were transmitted via unconventional routes, such as semen and breastmilk, according to the largest...

A shaggy dog story: ̽��ֱ��contagious cancer that conquered the world

17 May 2016

A contagious form of cancer that can spread between dogs during mating has highlighted the extent to which dogs accompanied human travellers...

Call to arms: how lessons from history could reduce the ‘immunisation gap’

25 Apr 2016

A rise in the number of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases has highlighted the growing trend for parents not to have their child vaccinated...

Reducing number of infectious malaria parasites in donated blood could help prevent transmission during transfusion

21 Apr 2016

A technique for reducing the number of infectious malaria parasites in whole blood could significantly reduce the number of cases of transmission of...

Neanderthals may have been infected by diseases carried out of Africa by humans, say researchers

11 Apr 2016

Review of latest genetic evidence suggests infectious diseases are tens of thousands of years older than previously thought, and that they could jump...

Ultra-violet screening for potentially Ebola-carrying liquids (cropped), Credit: DFID - UK Department for International Development

Uninfected or asymptomatic? Diagnostic tests key to forecasting major epidemics

05 Apr 2016

Major epidemics such as the recent Ebola outbreak or the emerging Zika epidemic may be difficult to forecast because of our inability to determine...

Macrophage engulfing Tuberculosis bacteria, Credit: ZEISS Microscopy

‘Clogged-up’ immune cells help explain smoking risk for TB

24 Mar 2016

Smoking increases an individual’s risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) – and makes the infection worse – because it causes vital immune cells to...

Researchers at the UNIMAK Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory

Ebola legacy lab will improve Sierra Leone’s resilience to future epidemics

22 Jan 2016

Samples from the recently confirmed case of Ebola in Sierra Leone have been analysed at a new infectious diseases laboratory in the country, set up...

Left: Roman latrines from Lepcis Magna in Libya. Right: Roman whipworm egg from Turkey

Roman toilets gave no clear health benefit, and Romanisation actually spread parasites

08 Jan 2016

Archaeological evidence shows that intestinal parasites such as whipworm became increasingly common across Europe during the Roman Period, despite...

Opinion: Why the Romans weren’t quite as clean as you might have thought

06 Jan 2016

Piers Mitchell (Department of Biological Anthroplogy) discusses what Roman toilets did for the health of the population.

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