Topic description and stories

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

Illustration showing global pandemic spread

Cambridge initiative to address risks of future engineered pandemics

27 Feb 2025

Covid-19 showed us how vulnerable the world is to pandemics – but what if the next pandemic were somehow engineered? How would the world respond –...

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Vaccination of an senior male

Prioritise vaccine boosters for vulnerable immunocompromised patients, say scientists

12 Feb 2025

Vaccinations alone may not be enough to protect people with compromised immune systems from infection, even if the vaccine has generated the...

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Intestine with microbiome

Feeding your good gut bacteria through fibre in diet may boost body against infections

10 Jan 2025

A new study has found that the composition of your gut microbiome helps predict how likely you are to succumb to potentially life-threatening...

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Syringe in bottle of vaccine

System to auto-detect new variants will inform better response to future infectious disease outbreaks

01 Jan 2025

Researchers have come up with a new way to identify more infectious variants of viruses or bacteria that start spreading in humans - including those...

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3D projections of QSM maps on the rendered brainstem

Ultra-powered MRI scans show damage to brain’s ‘control centre’ is behind long-lasting Covid-19 symptoms

08 Oct 2024

Damage to the brainstem – the brain’s ‘control centre’ – is behind long-lasting physical and psychiatric effects of severe Covid-19 infection, a...

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A Petri dish with a culture of the Superbug Acinetobacter baumannii next to antibiotics

Monoclonal antibodies offer hope for tackling antimicrobial resistance

16 Sep 2024

Monoclonal antibodies – treatments developed by cloning a cell that makes an antibody – could help provide an answer to the growing problem of...

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Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph showing Salmonella Typhimurium (red) invading cultured human cells

AI able to identify drug-resistant typhoid-like infection from microscopy images in matter of hours

08 Jul 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to identify drug resistant infections, significantly reducing the time taken for a correct diagnosis...

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A man with a respirator on his face

Scientists map how deadly bacteria evolved to become epidemic

04 Jul 2024

Pseudomonas aeruginosa – an environmental bacteria that can cause devastating multidrug-resistant infections, particularly in people with underlying...

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Very sick 5 year old little boy fighting measles infection, boy is laying in bed under the blanket with an agonizing expression, boy is covered with rash caused by virus.

Birth by C-section more than doubles odds of measles vaccine failure

13 May 2024

Researchers say it is vital that children born by caesarean section receive two doses of the measles vaccine for robust protection against the...

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Herd of cows in a grassy field

TB vaccine may enable elimination of the disease in cattle by reducing its spread

28 Mar 2024

Vaccination not only reduces the severity of TB in infected cattle, but reduces its spread in dairy herds by 89%, research finds.

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Aerial view of crowd connected by lines

New Cambridge-developed resources help students learn how maths can help tackle infectious diseases

19 Feb 2024

Cambridge mathematicians have developed a set of resources for students and teachers that will help them understand how maths can help tackle...

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Scanning electron micrograph of MRSA

COVID-19 showed the importance of genomic surveillance – we need it to help fight antimicrobial resistance

14 Nov 2023

During the COVID-19 pandemic, genomic surveillance proved vital in helping understand the evolution and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Now, an...

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